


Acting on Impulsion

by Zira



Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: Alternate Universe, At least she has friends now, Better than dying in the street, Her best is not that great, Master!Taylor, Multi, Taylor Hebert's Tries Her Best, Taylor has Flo's power, powerswap
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:55:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23095201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zira/pseuds/Zira
Summary: She's a high level Master on the run, but that doesn't mean Taylor can't make friends.
Relationships: Alec | Regent/Taylor Hebert | Skitter | Weaver
Comments: 39
Kudos: 157





	1. Hair Dye and Eating With A New Friend

**Author's Note:**

> Impulsion: A Portmanteau Of Implant And Compulsion
> 
> NOTICE: At some point, there will be humorous or crack elements mixed into this. Not a total humorfic/crackfic, but some things are intentionally meant to be humorous/cracky. If you are looking for a one hundred percent perfectly serious take on this, this ain’t the fic for ya. But if you don’t mind occasional humor and crack in your serious fics, this might just work out.

Taylor is rinsing her hair awkwardly in the sink of the public park’s restroom, nose wrinkling at the horrible feel of it in her hands. Maybe hydrogen peroxide isn’t the smart way of doing this? But that nice lady at the dollar store said that if Taylor _has_ to use something, cleaning bleach will just make her hair fall out. She uses one of the disposable cups to pour more water on her head, hoping she’s getting it all out, it’s been on for what she’s pretty sure is half an hour, and her head itches. 

She’s pouring a huge handful of the cheap conditioner the lady forced into her basket into her hair when the door opens up. She yells, “Get the fuck out!” 

Unfortunately, her eyes are closed right now, and she can’t fumble for the cup to stop the soap from getting in them. She can hear footsteps as a girl’s voice says, “Oh no! You’re bleaching your hair with that? Here! I can help you.” Gentle fingers rub her head, and it’s the first sort of… intimate and nice physical act she’s had in _years_ , so she finds herself just relaxing down against her will. It only feels _nicer_ as the girl works the conditioner in, saying, “Hiding out, right? Probably don’t want anyone to realize you’re bleaching your hair.” The girl’s fingers are kind, “You’re gonna want to get some specialty shampoos and conditioners so your hair will be healthier.”

Feeling a little nervous, Taylor mumbles, “Can’t… can’t really afford that.”

“Then I’ll get it for you, alright? You can come over to my place after, and I’ll help you out.” 

A chunk of her wants to refuse, since she can’t really _trust_ anyone after what she's done, but… This girl seems to be doing this without any real motive? And if there is one, it’s likely just… some girl is bleaching her hair wrong, that’s bad! 

It feels weird just letting another girl help out, but if anything goes wrong, it’s not like Taylor can’t punish the girl for it. She leans over the sink when bid, and finally says, “‘M Taylor.”

There’s a small laugh, and warm water from a cup is used to carefully rinse the conditioner out, “I’m Lisa. I’m glad to meet you, Taylor.”

She looks through the dripping water and can see a blob of blond hair, and a large smile. She smiles back, likely more nervously than Lisa’s, and says, “Nice to meet you, Lisa.”

The other girl takes paper towels, sopping up the water around them, and trying to get Taylor’s hair dry, “Let’s get your glasses and shirt back on, okay?”

She nods, tugging on her loose t-shirt and hoodie. Her glasses feel awkward on her face, but that’s because Lisa seems a little over zealous, putting them on her with a grin. Adjusting them better, she shuffles her feet a little. “Ah, um… thanks for this.” She reaches over, and puts her leftover shopping supplies in the bag. 

Lisa picks the bag up, “No problem. Come on, let’s head out, and tug that out of order sign off, huh?”

She flushes a little, ducking her head, “Ah, yeah. The toilet does work, I just, um….”

“You wanted privacy. It would have worked better if it wasn’t on notebook paper, written in pencil. It made me more curious than deterred.”

“Fuck, right. That’s a good point.” She just has super fucking limited funds, and doesn’t want to waste any on paper when she has some in her stupid backpack. 

Lisa takes her hand, grinning when Taylor doesn’t pull away, and leads her along. “How about a little walk to let your hair dry first? I don’t think we want to use a hairdryer, and letting it air dry would be best. You hungry?”

She’s about to answer in the negative, but her stomach rumbles in protest. She probably shouldn’t have skipped breakfast this morning, since she knew she wouldn’t be staying for lunch. “Ah, yeah.” No use lying about it.

Lisa doesn’t seem to mind, “Okay, cool. How about we go to....” The other girl hums thoughtfully, walking them out of the park slowly, “You feel up to pho?”

“Fa?”

“I can hear you misspelling that.” Lisa’s grin belies any insult that could be in the words, and she’s just as cheerful as she spells it out before saying, “It’s just a very good soup. I’ll get you a huge bowl, and you can fill up. If you’re still hungry after, we can get dessert.”

“Soup doesn’t seem very filling? Does it have bread or…?”

“Like I said, still hungry, we get dessert. I know of this nice bakery, and they usually have slices of cake.”

Soup and then cake? It sounds way too good to be true, really. “I can’t pay for-”

“I’m buying!”

Taylor can’t bring herself to stop as she moves closer to the other girl, glad for the comfort of Lisa’s hand in hers. It’s a friendly contact she’s been missing, and Lisa is being nice. It seems a little pushy, but not in a bad way. She smiles at Lisa, letting herself be led with a happier heart.

\--

Bringing the bowl to her mouth, Taylor drinks the last of the broth down, and sighs happily. “This, uh, it feels a lot like….”

Lisa smiles at her, wide and bright, “Like family, right?”

Her mind flashes to her mother’s soup, which was a lot like this, but not at all, either. Just like how her dad never cooks since mom died. Still, she can see exactly what Lisa means, “Yeah.”

“When I’m missing my family, I like coming here.” Lisa puts away her credit card, since the check came before Taylor could finish. “So, still hungry?”

“... kinda? May want to walk around a bit to make that call?”

“Sounds good to me.” They get up from the table, calling out a thank you to the friendly owners as they step outside. Lisa snags her hand again, and Taylor adjusts her backpack on her shoulder, “So, how’s the red hair suiting you?”

Taylor freezes, and glances at her reflection in the window. It makes her looks kind of unrecognizable, just how she wants, but… ugh. Red hair. It isn’t the same shade as Emma’s, a little blotchy in some places, but still. Her green eyes, the red hair? “I don’t like it.”

Lisa nods, no judgement in her expression or body language, “Well, once your hair recovers some more, we can get it dyed another color. What would you like?”

“I was thinking it would be blonde. Isn’t that what bleaching is _supposed_ to do?”

“You’d think so, but dark hair has weird undertones. Most hair does, even mine.” Lisa taps her naturally blonde hair with a grin, “So, you want blonde?”

She looks at Lisa’s hair, and feels a chunk of her long for it, but also doesn’t want Lisa to think she’s trying to copy her new friend. Sure, the _sensible_ part of her knows Lisa would be flattered, but the part of her that’s the bullied girl says she’s in for a vicious mocking for trying. Besides, her powers kind of lend a certain sort of _look_ to be followed. Who’s the most famous Master? Who brings fear to the hearts of all that hear her? 

She knows that once what her powers do gets out, and it likely already is due to what she’s done, she’ll be hunted for it. May as well run full tilt, and flip every authority figure the bird.

“White. I want white hair.”

Lisa looks at her, slightly frozen, only to relax instantly. “White, then. We’ll even make it so your eyebrows are, too. Why the hell not, right?”

She beams, “Right!” Something about Lisa is just comforting. Like the girl is going to make sure things are okay.

“Let’s talk shades. I’m thinking we could do a stark white, you know? A grey probably would be easier, but why not go all out.”

It’s like Lisa is reading her mind. “Exactly. I was thinking… maybe straightening my hair, too?”

“Not a good idea, not if you don’t want it to fall out. Maybe if we get tinkertech derived shampoo and conditioner, but that’s not really worth it in the long term.”

She hums thoughtfully, thinking about it as they make their way along the sidewalk. “How expensive is the tinkertech shampoo?”

“More expensive than the derived stuff, since you’d need to track down a tinker that sells it.” Lisa winks at her, “But really, it’s super pricey, since they use some specialized things that are kind of hard to get. If you want to keep using it, you’d need to get a job.” Lisa taps Taylor’s nose, a playful gesture, “I’ll be doing this for the first time, but if we keep doing it, I’ll see about hooking you up with work.”

“You’d get me a job?” 

“If you want one, sure. If not, there’s no reason to right now.”

“What kind of job?”

“Something that shouldn’t be discussed on a sidewalk.” Lisa gives her a small smile, “It isn’t prostitution. You think I’d do that? I’m not gonna let any asshole touch me like that. I did tell you I’m ace.”

Taylor nods, “Right.” She looks at Lisa a little closer, frowning, since it feels like she’s going to be tricked. “Lisa-”

The other girl shakes her head, interrupting with, “I’m gonna be honest with what it is, Taylor. We’ll just wanna be in private. You up to cake?”

She’s tempted to use her power on Lisa, just to be sure, but she relaxes a little. Lisa has been nothing but kind, so she won’t push. Besides, cake is good. “Yes, I can eat some cake. You better be truthful, Lisa.”

There’s a half second pause, but Lisa gives her a happy smile, “No lies, Taylor. None. Promise.”

The walk to the bakery is silent, but Taylor isn’t tempted to use her powers, and Lisa seems relaxed, still holding her hand. When they get in, Lisa shoos her to go to a private booth, and goes to order them cake.

Taylor claims the booth in the corner, where conversations will be quiet, and she can watch as others come in. Lisa joins shortly, placing a thick chocolate cake in front of Taylor, with cream cheese frosting and a cherry on top, while her own is a white cake with strawberries and vanilla frosting. Sitting across from her, Lisa glances around, and then says softly, “We both have powers.”

Taylor freezes, then nods slowly, once. She takes a part of her cake, “Go on.” If Lisa is planning on hurting her, there’s been plenty of chances already. She can wait and see what this is about.

“I’m a thinker. It’s like super intuition, so I could see when you were in that bathroom…” Lisa looks sad, “You were hurt. You burned bridges, and grabbed something to change yourself. Want to be anything other than what you were. I know how that feels. I ran away from home, too. Ran away, couldn’t stay there.” She just looks so _sad_. “I can’t just… I can’t let that happen to another person. I can’t.”

Nibbling on her cake, Taylor nods slowly, “And this… job?”

Lisa laughs, it’s an unhappy sort of broken sound, “I was probably pretty eager, right?” Taylor nods. “I just… I’d like another girl I can talk to. Someone to be friends with, and you seem nice, even if your power is pretty scary. And you haven’t used it on me, so I want you to join. I’m part of the Undersiders.”

“What’s the Undersiders?”

“Real new group. Only been on one mission, and we have a rich backer who has us on a plain monthly salary. It’s not a huge amount just for the month, but he’ll be paying us more on top of that for each mission.”

“What kind of missions?” If this is some hero group, she may as well leave and make it so Lisa can’t reveal who she is.

“Our last one was nabbing from a jewelry store. We cleaned the place out, and he paid us what all it was worth and more when we gave the stuff to him.”

Taylor hums softly, taking two bites of cake as she thinks. “And you want me?”

“I do, yes. I think you’d be a great fit, and I think you’d enjoy it. It’ll give you a roof over your head, and we can do things together.”

“What are the other’s powers?”

“There’s Grue, he produces a darkness that he can fill an area with, and it takes out all sight and sound. Regent, he can make muscles twitch and spasm. Bitch, she can transform dogs and use them to attack or to as transport for us.”

Taylor stares at Lisa, “Bitch?”

“She’s… really dog oriented. Lead girl dog, and so on.”

Seems stupid to her, but whatever the girl wants, she guesses. Not like she’s one to talk about good names. She doesn’t even have a cape name. “Alright.”

“You want to join?”

“I want to see them and talk before I make the call, but… so far? Yeah. Okay.”

Lisa smiles at her, bright and genuine, “Thanks, Taylor.”

Instead of answering, she steals one of Lisa’s strawberries.


	2. Meeting The Team, A Costume, A Walk, Showing Off

Taylor lays on her stomach on the couch, legs kicking above her head as she watches Alec play a video game. He offers her a controller, but she shakes her head. She isn’t all that interested in playing a fighting game, not when she can tell he’s really good at it. It doesn’t seem to be button mashing, anyway.

Lisa is in the kitchen, talking to Bitch, who is very angry at Taylor existing. The girl is living up to her name, but Lisa stops the girl from siccing her dogs on Taylor. That’s good enough for her right now. She can hear some raised voices, but nothing really intelligible, so she doesn’t pay too much attention. 

Instead, she finally asks, “You got a problem with me, Brian?”

Grue sighs, looking at her, “I was kind of expecting the boss to bring the next possible member, not someone that Lisa picked up from, where did she say it was again?”

Alec murders the hell out of whatever enemy is on screen, saying, “In a park bathroom like a drugged out hobo.”

“That is _not_ what she said,” Grue grumbles. He focuses on Taylor, “But you were in a bathroom after running away from home-”

“School,” she corrects.

“And you aren't going _home_ are you?”

She’s damned tempted to flip him off, but Alec is the one who responds, “Sometimes home is where you don't wanna be, Brian.”

That makes the older boy softly huff, leaning back in his chair, “Right, sorry.”

Alec tries to offer her the second controller again, but she refuses it a second time. She’s more tempted now, but… eh. Sitting up? Noooooo. She pats Alec’s hand, since it’s nice to be included. “Apology accepted,” she informs Grue.

“So, you’re here, you want to join, and you don’t even have a costume or a cape name.” He hops up, walking back and forth a bit, “And you’re a human master on top of it all. Gonna be hard to figure out how to get you as part of our group safely. We _can_ do it, and likely will. But you know who most people think of when they think of human masters, right?”

For some reason Alec looks uncomfortable at that, but Taylor ignores it to drawl, “No, who?”

“Heartbreaker!” Grue yells, throwing his arms in the air. 

She rolls her eyes, “Yeah, well I have no intention of people thinking of me like him, so don’t you worry.” Mostly, anyway. She has her sights set…. higher.

“And then there’s Canary’s trial-”

She scoffs, twisting so she’s now sitting up, “And that’s a fucking sham, if there ever was one. Popular as hell singer, asshole ex, and now suddenly people screaming how she’s evil. Like fuck that’s anything but the top brass inciting more hate!” She throws her own arms up, “I’m not Canary, either!” She’s no shaker.

Grue stares at her, then flops back into his chair, “... okay. Fine. I, ugh.” He calls to the kitchen, “Lisa, contact the boss to get Taylor her cash for the month and see if he’s got any jobs for us! If we want to do this, we need to see how she can work with us.”

“I will!” comes Lisa’s call back.

Grue crosses his arms, grumbling for some reason, but nothing intelligible, so it’s ignorable. Alec waggles his eyebrows at Taylor, and wiggles the second controller, “Wanna play? Come on.”

She snorts, “No. You’ll easily beat me if I do. I’ll be fine just watching you.”

“Come onnnn,” he sing-songs. “You know you wanna.”

“Nope.” Suddenly, her hand spasms, and she smacks herself in the face. “Hey!” She reaches over and smacks Alec before he can react, flexing her power instantly. “Take that!”

“Hey!” Alec glares, and then punches himself in the face.

In response, Taylor cackles like mad. “You get what you get!”

Grue stares at them both, and then mumbles in horror, “Oh god, there’s two of them.”

\--

Taylor grins as Lisa gives her a package, the blonde saying amusedly, “You’re lucky Brian has been too busy to see your sketches.”

She snickers, “Well, he’ll see this soon enough.”

Lisa shakes her head, “You’re _also_ lucky the boss seems to be indulging you on this, you know. He could have gone another way.”

“Well, I’m just happy we went to a salon for my hair yesterday.”

Lisa reaches over, running a hand through Taylor’s stark white hair, “Silky, too.”

She laughs cheerfully, not pushing Lisa away. Opening the package, she nods, “Awesome, he got the contacts.”

“Some clear, some with other colors, and the purely cape ones.”

“So he actually followed my request?” she asks, looking at the lenses curiously.

“Yes, some pure white contacts, just for you.”

“Beautiful.” Setting them aside, she tugs out the second part of the costume, and gasps, “He did it!”

Lisa sighs, “Yes, white thread embroidered outlines of wings on the back of your entirely white jacket. I feel this is pretty… brazen. You’re going to get the Fallen on our asses.”

“Nah,” she scoffs. “They won’t come this far North unless I’m super fucking pushy about it.” She pulls out the white pants, and huffs, “Why does it have a built in skirt?”

Lisa grins at her, a finger drawing along the skirt’s ragged looking edges, “Look closely.”

Inspecting it, she gasps softly, “More feathers.” Laying it flat on the coffee table, she runs her hands along the pretty embroidery on the skirt, loving how it feels, only to feel confused, “Why does it have hard spots?”

That has Lisa flipping the fabric up, and showing her little pockets, “Armor. Not the best, but enough that if you’re stabbed at, you won’t die. The whole group has it. Yours is just a little more obvious, and you’re going to need to start exercising more.”

Groaning, Taylor flops back on a chair overdramatically, “I don’t wanna.” 

Lisa jabs a sharp finger into Taylor’s side, “You will. Look at this flab.”

That gets a soft whine, but no words. After a moment, Taylor sits up a little, leaning on her elbows, “I need to learn how to wear the contacts.” She wants to try them out, and maybe go for a walk. Make a glance at her house, see how her dad is. Not… not touch him. She knows she’ll be too tempted to compulse him into being a better father. To tell her he loves her. Let her know she’s wanted, and he won’t ever drop into himself and-

Eyes squeezed shut, Tayor wraps her arms around herself, trying to get her thoughts back on track. It’s just… hard. She wants her dad, and she wants him to show he loves her. Wants so much, but she can’t have it.

Arms wrap around her, and Lisa says softly, “It’s okay. How about I teach you about the contacts? Go for a walk, and do things. Maybe we’ll be able to do something or-”

“I want my dad,” she mumbles softly.

“... I can hack the PRT cameras, see if they have him? He hasn’t been home in a long time.”

Turning to look at the television, unable to keep the bitterness from her tone, “Yeah, don’t want people to kill the only family of the big scary human master. The one they outed and showed all over the news.”

Lisa rolls her eyes, “And now you barely look like yourself, and will look even less like you with the contacts.” The other girl tugs her up to stand, “Contacts, a walk, and you can do your plan of mastering others into not ever hurting you if you’re caught. What’s the plan there? Riots in the streets or...?”

“Well, it’s more I’m a friend and need to never get hurt if I’m found in public. Want to talk to me as I do contacts and we can refine the commands?”

The contacts get snagged, Lisa pulling her along, “And you can add me in that command. Make sure no one tries to hurt me.”

“I dunno,” Taylor drawls in a teasing tone, “I don’t see why I’d have to.” She’s going to do it anyway, and she knows it. It’s just nice to have this sort of companionship.

“I’ll just have to convince you,” Lisa says with a happy laugh.

Taylor can feel a warmth in her chest; it takes her longer than it probably should to figure out it’s happiness.

\--

Taylor swings her arms back and forth at her sides, staring longingly at the house a block over. “It’s so dark.”

“No one has been in for about a week, Taylor.” 

Claws tug and rip at her heart, “There’s going to be dust everywhere, and someone should empty the fridge.”

Lisa’s gloved hand points a little bit away, “Someone already emptied it. Right there is a plain clothes PRT trooper.”

A quick flick of her eyes spots the woman, sitting on some steps with a book in her hands. “You sure we can’t walk to that one and I just-”

“No going up to strangers. We can let you hit one of the idiots who is walking on the sidewalk, but none that seem to be on private property. They’re on the lookout for you.”

“I miss him.”

There’s a long silence, broken only by the sound of cars and their footsteps before Lisa says, “I know. I’ll get you some footage of him, see what we can do.”

She wants another hug, but Lisa isn’t exactly the best to ask for that. The girl will when Taylor is significantly stressed, but otherwise tries not to touch much of anything. Lisa saying something about her power making extended contact hard. She doesn’t really _get_ that, but she's also not going to force Lisa to do something she can’t or really doesn’t want to do. 

“I’d like that,” she admits softly, shoving a hand in her pocket, the other free to more easily snag a glancing touch off someone. She’s just glad her powers work through clothing, or this would be even more of a pain in the ass. Walk the streets, master the rabble, live easy; more like make your feet ache, be careful with her power, and stay out in the cold.

Lisa nods at a guy walking a dog, “That’s one, too.”

Oh good, he’s even on their side of the street. It makes them passing the man a simple task, and she casually brushes her hand on him in a way that looks accidental. She adds a special message to it, too. Something she’s adding to every single PRT worker she touches. She’s probably going to do it to everyone in general when Lisa isn’t with her, though. Lisa being here to point them out just means she has an easier time of it and it isn’t _entirely_ luck.

Maybe it will give whoever runs the PRT here a heart attack. If so, good.

She also has a very special message going to the Director, and she hopes they fucking choke.

Lisa rolls her eyes, “So, more walking? I’m thinking we can head to the boardwalk on a bus, and then do window shopping. Always pretty busy there.”

“Yeah, sounds good.” Tilting her head, she asks, “You think the bus will be crowded?”

“If it is, it isn’t a big deal to go sit in the back.”

“I want to sit in the back anyway.”

Hooking her arm in hers, Lisa says, “Sounds good to me, but you sure you don’t want near the front if it isn’t? Sure, people brush against you, but that’s not a big deal.”

“I know you, you just want the window seat. But yeah, we can sit in the front if it isn’t too crowded, and I’ll sit next to the aisle. I will save you from the random people touching you.”

“Thanks, you’re the best.”

She snorts, “Other way around. You’re the best, not me.”

“We’re _both_ the best, then.”

Her heart lighter than before, Taylor almost chokes out, “Y-yeah. We’re the very best.”

\--

Taylor walks out of her room in her costume, heading down the steps and making finger guns at Alec when he whistles at her from the couch. Stepping onto the floor, she spins, letting the skirt flare up to better show off the feathering, not at all worried about it showing anything due to the pants under it. 

Alec says, “Should have gotten those toe shoes for the full effect.”

She snorts, “Absolutely not, those things are offensive to the eyes. Also, I didn’t think of it, why didn’t you mention it earlier? I could put them on and touch you with them.”

A pillow flies at her face, and she snatches it out of the air easily. Unfortunately, the fun police show up, not letting either of them keep ribbing each other. 

“Why are you dressing like the _Simurgh_? You said you’d keep your powers lowkey!”

Exchanging an irritated glance with Alec, Taylor turns to look at Grue, “I _said_ that my costume won’t invoke thoughts of Heartbreaker or Canary. I said nothing about-”

“The Simurgh!” Brian looks close to wailing, and it takes a lot not to snicker, especially since Alec _is_ laughing. “Lisa!”

Lisa leans on the wall, looking disinterested, “The boss got her the costume. Approved it, put in armor, and even got someone to machine embroider wings and feathers on it. He’s the one paying us and suggesting jobs, and we’re not biting the hand.”

Rachel growls a bit from where she’s inspecting her dogs, and Taylor ignores her. She’s plotting on how best to make the other girl like her, but she can’t suggest it until Rachel doesn’t think Taylor is mocking her. She’s hoping after this job, she can suggest it. If not, there’s Alec, and she’ll have more cash to buy things herself.

At least Rachel no longer wants Taylor _gone_. Just out of her way, and that’s something easy enough to do. She’s tempted to use her powers on the girl to make her more sociable, but that seems like an asshole move. The weird dog girl can like her dogs and be left alone. And isn’t being left alone what everyone deserves? Not mocked, or harassed at all moments, and grabbed and shoved and-

Well, no one can hold Taylor in place again, and can’t just keep mocking and hurting her. Never ever again. She’s free and she’s safe, and now she’s gonna make some assholes piss themselves just looking at her costume.

Grue is arguing about Taylor’s costume with Lisa, so as that happens, she tugs out her mask, and sits next to Alec. The boy reaches over, touching the faux feathers sculpted on the masquerade looking half mask, more faint reliefs in the sculpt, only able to be seen if looked at closely or better to be touched, “I like the tie on it. Looks sturdy. Not gonna be easy to yank that off you.”

She shrugs, “They’ll know who I am, if we’re seen by the PRT.” Her fingers dip into the empty eyeholes, “I was thinking of more decorations than just the feathers on the mask, but the boss said no. Something about one of the parahumans in the Fallen having one that’s highly decorated. I also wanted them to be huge and sticking out all over, maybe wings out the sides?”

Alec snorts, “No, that doesn’t fit with your costume. You’re more implications than anything. Let’s not shout it aloud.”

She relaxes a bit, leaning on the boy, “Yeah, good point. I don’t want my costume to easily photograph and show off every wing and feather. I just am… wearing what looks like a weird and kind of generic white costume with a skirt over my pants.”

He shoves her lightly, grinning. “That’s right.” He shoves her again, “Now get up, this is _my_ spot.”

“Like hell, it’s comfortable here. Make me.”

“Oh, I wi-” Alec punches himself in the face.

“Forgot about that, didn’t you?” she practically cackles.

“That’s enough!” Grue, the fun killer, yells. “We need to talk about what our next job is.”

“What?” Rachel asks, voice gruff.

“That’s easy,” Lisa says, striding over, “We’re going to be stealing from Ruby Dreams.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm kinda out of it lately, not sure what there is to say.


	3. The Heist, and A New Friend

“Who thought this was a good idea?” Alec grumbles next to her, hand on her shoulder as they peer over at the door. 

“The boss,” Grue grumbles just as much. “We all know what we’re doing?”

Rolling her eyes, she joins in the chorus of, “Yes.” She also hears Rachel add, “Let’s get this over with already.”

“Seems really big for the second job,” Taylor says, feeling uncomfortable.

Lisa jabs her, hissing softly, “You’ve been mastering people left and right. This will be easier than before.” Lisa glances at her phone, “Alright, we got the go ahead, let’s do this.”

She takes a deep breath, and grabs Grue’s hand. He pulls her along into his darkness, and guides her other arm to touch each guard when they’re close to the door. Or she thinks that’s happening, she can’t exactly see anything. It’s in the plan, so she’s doing as told.

She steps forward, only to feel something hit her bodily, and she kind of wobbles a bit, stunned. Unfortunately, she can’t get her bearings - what little she’ll be able to in the darkness - since Grue pulls her along. 

She manages to not stumble _too_ badly, but does almost unfoot herself when something lands heavily on the back of her legs. An arm grabs and steadies her with care, and some darkness clears around her face and ears, Grue’s mask now visible to her as he says, “Stay still. I’ll take you to the group in a second.”

It makes her stay stock still, and she says, “Okay, I’ll just,” the darkness covers her, so she finishes the next part a little dejectedly, “wait on you.”

Keeping her arms loose at her sides, she imagines what the place must look like, Lisa is going to be starting to announce things, but in the practices with Grue’s darkness, she can’t actually hear anything going on out of it. She bets it is a million times worse for anyone who doesn’t practice with it. 

… She wants to go back to Winslow with Grue in tow, and just make Sophia fucking pants shitting terrified of being in the dark now. Emma, too, of course. Madison will just piss the bed if she’s in it in the dark. And she doesn’t mean a nightlight or light from the window will work to stop that, she means that unless the overhead light is on and maybe three lamps, Madison pisses her bed. 

Maybe make it impossible for all of them to sleep unless it is dark, too. Wear diapers to bed, assholes.

Grue grabs her arm -thank fuck, it is deeply difficult to distract herself from how suffocating the darkness is, no matter how nice it is to plot more revenge - and tugs her along, opening up more space for them to talk. She can _feel_ her heart rate lowering at the ability to just see Grue’s helmet and the nose on her face. He nods at her, “Okay, we’re going to the next section. You’re going in blind, but their heads are exposed, so we need to be careful.”

She nods, “Right, I can do this.”

And she can. It’s actually very simple. Grue moves her hand, she taps whatever bit is next to her, and implants the commands. Just behaving ones that she’s setting to dissipate once they go through three doorways - to ensure they won’t hurt her or the others. 

She also installs the ones to see her as a friend and to protect her if she gets a kill order or birdcage sentence. Of course. As if she’s ever going to stop doing those in addition to what she needs to do. She does seem to have an upper limit of commands she can issue at once, but the amount she’s doing is fine so far.

She’s still glad that they _finally_ get through it all, and she can just be out of Grue’s darkness, though. She walks over to sit by Lisa as the girl is breaking into a safe, saying, “Should I get a stun gun like Regent?” She gasps, “Or maybe-”

“You’re not getting an airhorn, Impulse,” Lisa says using the codename they’re using for her until they come up with something better, popping open the safe, and shoving cash into the duffle bag. “Now help me with this, Oni Lee may be here at any moment.”

“Ugh, you’re no fun. I could get the loudest and screamiest airhorn,” she complains, moving to help. “I’ll just hit it and we could wear industrial earplugs. The good kind. That let you hear talking and only start blocking out the loud sounds. It would be the-” She screams as suddenly a person appears in front of her, and she instinctively shoves her hands into them.

She blinks in shock as the person holds stock still. She faintly hears, “What the fuck? Is that Oni Lee?”

Glancing over to the voice, she can tell that’s Alec. Taking a deep breath, Taylor looks back at Oni Lee, and very carefully loads up a few orders. Poking him, she only feels one take, but that’s because _every other_ order she does is already on him. She starts grinning, and says, “Oni Lee, do you hear me?”

“Yes, Mistress.”

She can’t help it, she throws her head back and laughs, mad with power.

Lisa shoves her lightly, “Shut up, tell him to help us take all the money, and lets get the fuck out of here. Lung won’t be far behind.”

“He’s coming with us when we do,” she declares cheerfully. “Now, help us take all the money here, and load up the various bags. Help carry, too.”

“And any papers in the safes,” Lisa says quickly.

Shrugging, Taylor adds, “And any papers in the safes.”

“Yes, Mistress,” Oni Lee’s body dissolves into ash as he teleports away.

Alec says, “Man, seems to me that it is kind of bullshit what you did to him.”

“Uh… I’m not actually sure how I did that? Typically, it would take _way_ more than the two touches to get somebody to act like that with me.” She’s… really loading up the obedience orders on the man. She is likely going to need to spend time unraveling them so he’s not stuck only doing things she orders, while also not freeing him enough to murder the shit out of them.

She has no clue how that even works, since it’s like one tap and no upper limit to the man? It is an uncomfortable feeling, and she doesn’t like it. Not now that she’s thinking about it. At first it seems cool, but now she has to _deal_ with a person who can’t do anything without her say so. Including eating or anything to do with the bathroom. While also being _unable_ to ask for that permission.

It’s a very tight slavery, and she… does not want this.

She helps load up the dogs, and orders Lee to keep hold and not fall off. She’s not sure how well it’ll work, since riding the dogs take a bit of practice, but they’re on and going. She doesn’t argue when Lee puts one arm around her waist, holding onto her in addition to one of the spurs. Bitch is _clearly_ pissed about this, but also not going to shove him off when they leave.

The crash through the wall leaves a huge hole, but they’re escaping with ease. Gritting her teeth, she ignores how her bones rattle, and just focuses on keeping in place. They’re out of sight of the illegal casino before too long, making her grateful for just how fast and mobile Bitch’s dogs are. No one seems to be following them, letting her relax. 

Glancing around, she says, “We’re just keeping the cash?”

“Yeah,” Lisa calls back from where she’s on Brutus, “but the boss wants those papers we got.”

She nods, feeling a little better. 

Grue says, voice tight, “So, is there a reason why Oni Lee is now your best friend?”

She can’t help her visible wince at that, “Ah, uh… It was an accident? He startled me, and my usual limit to orders didn’t hit him?”

“Limit?” Alec asks, looking at her.

“Not here!” Lisa snaps. “We’re outside and in public. Let’s argue once we’re back in the base!”

That gets various agreements, and they fall silent. Taylor can’t hope they get there soon, but also wants the trip to last as long as it can. Her stomach is knotting up in unhappiness already.

\--

Taylor is sitting in her room, sorting through all of Lee’s orders, and figuring out the best way to safely break it. She only opens her eyes to a knock at the door, and slowly releases her hand from his. “Come in.”

Brian peeks in, “Taylor? Are yo- Shit!”

“He won’t reveal our identities, Brian.”

He doesn’t look convinced, but steps in, giving Lee a weirded out look. “Does he have to sit on your bed?”

She stares at him for a solid three seconds, “... where else does he sit? You told me he can’t be in the living area.”

That gets a sigh, “Right, right.” Brian groans, leaning against the wall, “Well, the boss said you’re not going to be part of the Undersiders if you’re keeping him. You’ll get your own group, but you’ll be staying here until he can arrange a new base for you.”

She blinks, “O-oh.” She looks over to Lee, and pats his hand, her orders written so tightly around him that should she demand it, he will stop his own heart. “I can’t get rid of him, Brian. It is cruel to do what I did. He’s little more than a slave, and I.... I can’t. He needs permission to do anything, and if I loosen things too much, he will possibly murder everyone.”

“Would he?”

Rubbing her face, she asks, “Lee, if I wasn’t your very best friend, and you didn’t care about us, what would you do?”

“I don’t understand the question, Mistress.”

“Right, fuck. How did I put it? … Okay, so…. If Kenta was your only friend, would you be following his last order right now?”

“Yes, Mistress.”

“And what was that last order?”

“Kill the Undersiders and return everything that was stolen, Mistress.”

She stares at Brian, “Thank you, Lee.” Pointing at the other boy, she says, “See? I can’t! So he needs to see me as his best friend-”

“You are my best friend, Mistress.”

“Thank you, Lee,” she absently repeats. “He needs to see me like that, or we’d be dead. I’m doing what I can, okay? Don’t just-”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Brian walks closer, both hands up in a placating gesture, “it’s okay.” He reaches over, and showing a level of trust he’s refused her before, takes her hand in his, “I know you’re doing your best. Without you, we might have died. I just ….” His shoulders drop a bit, and he pats her hand, “I like you on the team, and I hate that after a single mission you’re being yanked out.”

Staring at him, she blinks, hating at how they’re watering a bit. Stupid contacts, they’re irritating her eyes is all. “... oh.” She sniffs a bit, tugging her hand away to rub her eyes, “I don’t wanna go, either.”

“It’s okay, you don’t have to. You can stay here as long as you want, even if you’re not an Undersider. You can be an _honorary_ Undersider, that okay?”

She smiles a bit up at him, but it’s wavery and hard to keep up, "Y-yeah. I’d… I’d li-like that.” She coughs, looking away.

He tugs lightly on her hand, “Come on, let’s head back down. I was being a dick, and you didn’t deserve it. Lee is allowed in the living room, and everything. We should be celebrating, anyway. We got the cash, and got away clean.”

She lets him coax her up, and she’s happy to see Brian doesn’t even twitch when she orders Lee to follow them. Brian _does_ twitch a little when Lee nudges Brian _away_ from Taylor, and puts an arm around her shoulders protectively. 

It’s something she’s going to need to strip from her compulsions on him, but she’ll do that once they’re both sitting again. It feels kind of creepy, even if she knows that it is meant to look fatherly. Lee is way older than her, and her powers kind of twisted it a bit to make him act a bit like how she wants her dad to.

Sitting on the couch, she taps Alec, “Preemptive measure. I don’t want you fucking with him while I fix him.”

“What? Why? Would I even-”

“You would,” Brian and Lisa say at the same time. Lisa grins, and Brin just rolls his eyes. 

Brian sits in a chair, “Toss me a controller. I’ll play so you’re not tempted to punch yourself in the face.”

“Oh, he won't punch his face if he tries anything on Lee.”

Alec looks uncomfortable, “It’s my dick, isn’t it? I’ll punch my dick.”

She shakes her head, “No, you’ll punch your stomach. I don’t want you needing to go to the hospital or anything.”

“Well, thanks for the warning, I guess.” He hands a controller to Brian, “Racing or fighting?”

“Eh… racing.”

“Alight.” 

Taylor watches them set up the new game, and grabs Lee’s hand to work on him. Before she can, Lisa sits near her. “.. yeah?”

Lisa touches her lightly on her arm, “You okay?”

She glances around the room, seeing Alec and Brian playing, and Rachel brushing her dogs. “I… yeah. I’m doing a lot better. You send Brian up, then?”

The other girl huffs theatrically, “Now, why would I ever do that?” Lisa breaks into a wide grin, “Of course. I’m glad you’re feeling better, Taylor. I can tell you’re stressing out over this. You’re a good person.”

She glances at Lee, heart squeezing painfully, “You sure about that?”

“A bad person would just order him to either ask you when he needs things, or just tell him to eat or use the bathroom when he has to. You’re making it so he can be a human, not a puppet. It means you’re a good person.” Lisa taps Taylor’s nose softly, “Really.”

“... Thanks, I… I needed to know that.”

Lisa smiles, “And you’re still part of us, even if you go to another base. I can talk to the boss, see if he’s up to getting us more rooms and space for when you expand your little merry band out. Preferably with less… yeah.”

“Yeah.” Taking a deep breath, Taylor feels better and better. She can do this, and give Lee freedom. But first… getting rid of the more creepy looking gestures. She doesn’t need another dad, thanks. … If Oni Lee decides he wants to act like one without the compulsions, she’ll allow it, though.

She knows herself enough to know that she won’t be able to refuse herself that. She wants her father to love and accept her too much to do anything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not doing well, right now. I'm sorry for this updating later than usual, I overslept, and my pain isn't dulling. Editing and posting is a struggle when I can't think on how to better word things, or how it should be.
> 
> I hope you're enjoying the fic, thank you for reading.


	4. Interlude: What's Up With The PRT, Emily?

Emily Piggot can feel her blood pressure rise with every passing day that Taylor Hebert is missing. It only gets worse when she sees Sophia Hess. The girl can’t even get into her costume, since she’s just covered in bruises, and might have more and more hairline fractures in her bones. She can’t keep calling in Panacea for the girl’s stupidity. They’ve gotten Thinker support to see what exactly Sophia is mastered to do.

And it is significantly more… dangerous than the Barnes girl’s compulsions to pull out her hair for insulting people or yelling her own secrets if she wants to expose someone else’s. No, Sophia Hess has to beat herself up if she thinks about violence. It’s nasty, especially since if she thinks about how much violence she’s causing herself, she has to keep hurting herself. A nasty loop. 

The others who menaced Hebert all have varying punishments a teenage girl thinks are worthwhile, but mostly Emily has to deal with Hess. Oh, she knows that Hebert triggered from the bullying, and the rot in Winslow from the top down, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a Master on the loose.

Personally, it isn’t even the worst part. No, no, the worst part is….

She watches tiredly as her secretary peeks into her office, saying slowly, “It… happened again, ma’am.”

She groans, barely stopping herself from grinding the heels of her hands into her eyes, “What was the message this time? ‘I’m safe, dad,’ or ‘I love you very much, and I hope you’re safe?’”

Alison Wells keeps a straight face, but Emily can see the underlying stress, “Mr. Hebert’s latest guard remaindered himself into Master/Stranger screenings after informing him that Miss Hebert didn’t mean to steal Oni Lee, but it’s okay, because she now has her own group.” Wells does look pained as she continues, “She’s still an honorary Undersider, even if they will only work together every so often.”

Emily reminds herself that the reason nothing heavy other than her computer is on her desk is just for this sort of thing. She knows she’s _still_ incredibly tempted to toss something at the wall. Instead, she says, as calmly as she can, “Thank you, Ms. Wells. I’ll go see him soon, and do another walk through the ranks before long, so we can catch more of the ones she’s mastered.”

“Yes’m,” Wells shuts the door silently, clearly not looking forward to this either. The only reason the woman even comes into the office, is because Emily does _not_ want this information going through electric channels. She’s half convinced someone has it bugged, and letting people know how badly infiltrated they are makes her want to punch someone.

She takes a few meditative breaths, and forces herself to stand up. It aches, but she shoves the pain to the back of her mind. Time to go check on her subordinantes, and weed out the ones who are mastered. 

She’s just glad that _all_ Miss Hebert seems to be doing is telling her father she’s safe. But she wants to be there, talk to Mr. Hebert, get more permission to run the guards by him to check, and make certain they have every message recorded. She could have someone else do this, but when she was a trooper, having the top brass showing care made her less nervous at the idea of some parahuman hijacking her mind.

Stepping out, she makes it about three steps into the hallway when one of the troopers says loudly behind their helmet, “This is a message for the Director. Keep my dad safe, or else!” There’s silence as everyone around them processes that, and the trooper seems to droop a little before going back to attention, “Ma’am! Permission to submit myself to Master/Stranger Protocols?”

… Why is she surprised that Hebert is leaving _her_ messages? It only makes sense. If the girl thinks she can’t make it to her father, of course she’ll aim for Emily. She turns to the trooper, “Permission granted. Ms. Wells, call for an escort for this trooper.”

“Yes’m!”

She keeps walking down the hallway, to the elevator, saying, “Get me some cleared guards. I want some to take down anyone who may make a move for a weapon. We already know that the girl can do more than force someone to speak and relay messages. I don’t want to deal with being shot or stabbed by a man forced into it.”

“Ma’am!” 

She can hear the flurry around her as she gets to the elevator. It’s a quick hop and a level down when guards file in next to her. One saying, “Director! All of us have been cleared and have not left base since a day ago.”

“Good. Keep your attention up, we’re walking into a potentially hostile situation. _Only_ move to disable if someone makes a move to actively attack. Currently the Master has only used her powers to issue messages, and a single threat. There have been no active hostilities, due to the threat coming from a teenage girl who believes we are keeping her father safe. The threat implied is that as long as he is safe, nothing will happen. We can’t be certain that is true, so keep your eyes peeled.” And how it grates at her that they’re at the mercy of a teenager.

“Yes, ma’am!”

The elevator stops, and they step out. Going through the hallway, Emily waits for her men to clear it for her, and she steps into the room filled with her troops. Almost instantly, several of them chorus together, “This is a message for the Director. Keep my dad safe, or else!” 

She sighs, “No one is going to Master/Stranger Protocols just yet.” An order that annoys her to give, even if it is needed at this point. “As everyone can see, Miss Hebert has continued to infiltrate our ranks. I will be meeting with Mr. Hebert, and gaining his permission to have him help check for more…. Messages from her. Those found carrying then will be put into screening, and likely be out by the end of the day.” They’ve found little to no side effects with the girl, since all she seems to be doing is worrying for her father and updating him on what she’s doing. It might provide more valuable insights, and maybe they’ll figure out where the hell she is. 

‘With the Undersiders’ is not very helpful. All they know about the Undersiders is that they’ve done a single robbery and then suddenly step up and rob Lung. It just seems insane and suicidal. How does this even happen?

She turns around, heading back out. “We’ll test all of them,” she informs the troop leader. She mentally sighs, “And someone get the one I just sent to M/S; we’ll see if Miss Hebert has a message in him to her father.” Glaring at the hallway in front of her, she snaps, “Do we have a cape designation for her yet or not?”

“Armsmaster is working on it, ma’am.”

“I’ll talk to him about it after this.” 

When they get to the protected rooms holding Danny Hebert, the man stands up from the table he’s working on paperwork at - trying to figure out how to delegate how the Dockworkers’ Association will be running without him. Stepping closer, he looks tired, overworked, and a little chagrined, “We’re going to be checking to see who else she’s tagged?”

“Yes, Mr. Hebert. If you’d be willing to follow us to the room?”

He looks more tired than before, but nods, “Do we truly need the bulletproof glass between me and them?”

“It’s just a precaution. We doubt it will be required, but the protocols are there for a reason. I won’t have you kidnapped on my watch.”

“Of course.” He sighs, looking away. She knows he wants to talk about the information in the latest message he’s seen from Miss Hebert, but Emily will _not_ talk about the man’s daughter until her troops are cleared. Currently, she’s too concerned for those under her command.

She can fill him in after this. 

As they step into the room, and Mr. Hebert sits down, she says, “We’ve found a second component of the Mastering. Just in case, I will be out of the room. You will have guards, and I will just be in the hall. When we finish, you may ask me questions about your daughter, and I’ll give you what information we have.”

Not that they have much. Parahumans cause so fucking much trouble, and the normals have to scramble through scraps to just know what the hell they’re doing.

“Thank you, Director.”

She nods once, and heads out of the room. 

Fuck, she’s so tired.

\--

Emily is glad that the conference rooms all have such good chairs, since sitting in a typical office chair is a nightmare. Mr. Hebert is at the table, across from her, looking intently up at where Armsmaster is standing in front of the presentation area. 

“We have decided upon the designation of Milyaket, as suggested by Miss Militia.” The woman nods from where she’s sitting. Armsmaster puts up a new image, this one with images of angels and writing about them. He continues, “It means Angel in Sorani. The reasoning being that if she is going to ape the Simurgh in her outfit, she can be called one. The choice of what is generally the most generic term, is due to angels without a title being the lowest tier of the mythological creature.

“The reason it isn’t in English is due to the fact that there used to be a famous hero named Angel, but she died fighting the Simurgh in an attempt to prove that not all with a classic angelic look are villainous.” Information Emily is well aware of, but a glance at Hebert shows he does not. She barely notices as the slide changes to an image of the dead hero, showing who Armsmaster means. “As is traditional when choosing names that would match such things, we choose from another language. Miss Militia - being a native Sorani speaker - chose Milyaket.

“The next order of business is explaining how we know she is fashioning herself after the Simurgh.” He puts the next picture up for all to see, an image of what must be the Hebert girl on the back of those monstrous lizard looking creatures the murdering Hellhound controls, her and the others with her all rushing from the scene of the crime. “The few witnesses we’ve managed to track down that were willing to talk, they described feathering on her costume in white thread, and long white hair; most likely a wig, due to how it has been explained by those close to her how proud she is of her hair.”

“It always was her proudest feature. Same hair as Annette,” Mr. Hebert says softly, but it carries across the room nonetheless, as the acoustics of the room are meant for everyone to hear those at the tables and in front no matter what. The Wards are not allowed in the Protectorate PRT rooms for that reason. She won’t put it past one of them to pull some sort of prank. And for all that Assault misbehaves, he doesn't joke too much when serious matters are brought up. Even if some black humor is expected.

Some of the various heroes look uncomfortable at Mr. Hebert’s comment, but stay silent. Miss Militia awkwardly pats the man’s back as Armsmaster continues on, pretending Mr. Hebert’s interruption never happened, “They also described solid white eyes, and the suspicion is that she is wearing contacts. This is exemplified by the lack of glasses in the photo. Witnesses say she had no trouble navigating.”

“What witnesses?” Triumph asks, head tilted. 

Miss Militia is the one who answers, “People who live near there, and some just wandering around, claiming they only showed up to see what the commotion was about.” Of course, that’s most likely a lie, but they can’t exactly slap cuffs on civilians, even if there is a suspicion they’re gambling illegally. They need a warrant or to catch them in the act. Since all the people were out on the street, they have to take them at their word. 

It is infuriating, but there is nothing they can do.

Armsmaster makes a small sound to return their attention to him, having no papers to shuffle and not one to cough unless it is something his body can’t suppress, “Do I need to go over the other members of the group calling themselves the ‘Undersiders’ before I get to what is the most pressing issue?” 

Emily hopes not, they’re already knowledgeable of the group from that first robbery. It’s how they know that Hellhound is Rachel Lindt, and they have a murderer on the loose in Brockton Bay. … another murderer. She really wishes she could drink.

There’s several shakes of the head, and she can see that Hebert is glancing through the papers in front of him from the beginning of the meeting. She knows he’ll go more in depth later, just like he does with the other meetings he sits in on about his daughter, but she knows he won’t ask for anything not covered in his skimming.

“Good, now for what everyone was likely curious about from the picture I’ve shown.” The picture now focuses entirely on the man with his arm around Milyaket’s waist, looking protective, “Oni Lee.” 

Armsmaster pauses, as if waiting for a reaction, but no one says anything. Emily wishes she can have Mr. Hebert in _every_ meeting, since it stops Assault from filling in the silences. He may be more professional, but it is as if some of the capes are _inviting_ quips on things. Hebert’s presence stops that flat in more effective ways. Assault isn’t going to traumatize a hurt father worried about his human Master daughter.

Armsmaster proceeds, “We have a firm theory that Milyaket has mastered him into becoming her bodyguard. Changing him from the ABB’s second in command to solely following her, ignoring his loyalty to Lung for longer than the gang they lead has been established.” There is no exact dating, since the records are so scattered. She can see his frustration at not knowing anything specific, but also that she told him it would be a waste of time if he keeps trying to dig. 

Nothing frustrates most people more than wasting time. A feeling Emily finds laughable after a career in the army and then in the PRT. Hurry up and wait.

“Shortly after doing so, she and the other Undersiders escaped to parts unknown, just like their previous crime.” Armsmaster looks disapproving, “It is a clear sign of over escalation if they go from robbing a store to robbing another parahuman, and even go as far as subverting said gang’s second in command.” The man takes a breath to calm himself, “We should be preparing for an outright war and many innocents injured or killed in Lung’s rampage to get Oni Lee back in some capacity. 

“Previous Thinker support has shown that Lung and Oni Lee are close friends, and Lung will take this deeply personally.” Armsmaster flips to a new picture, this one of a distressingly cartoonish version of Lung ripping up several buildings, “He may start tearing the city apart in search sooner than anyone wants.”

“Not that anyone _wants_ that,” Assault mutters, voice carrying. 

Emily doesn’t even look at him, since she _agrees_. She wants the city, as volatile as it is, to remain at a low bubble, not a roiling boil. It’s her responsibility, and it feels like it is all going to Hell faster than before. She turns to the only other person not in a mask, “What do you think your daughter is doing, Mr. Hebert?”

He has his hands on his head, elbows on the table, fingers hold tight to his hair, head almost seeming to hang from his grip, all while staring at the papers in front of him, expression filled with ache and horror. It takes a second, but he finally says, “I think… she mastered Oni Lee too much, and is trying to remove them safely. If she can remove them, anyway. She’d take him as her responsibility if she hurt him so badly.”

“What makes you think that?” Miss Militia’s tone is comforting, and she pats the man lightly on the back. 

“She... she has accidentally hurt or found hurt animals before, picking up a baby bird, a cat with a broken tail, a turtle with a cracked shell, and so on. For every single one, she stepped up and took care of them, and was even more attentive to the ones where she was the one who hurt them. 

“We couldn’t put the baby bird back, so she made certain to feed it every hour, on the hour. The broken tail had to be amputated on the stray cat, so she cared for it the entire time it healed, and was heartbroken when it died of old age a few years later, already being an elderly cat. You get the picture. Every time, she’d step up. I think she’ll do the same with Oni Lee. At least, if she didn’t do it on purpose, and I don’t think she did. 

“My… my daughter wouldn’t… wouldn’t do that to him, not on purpose. My daughter wouldn’t do that.”

Danny Hebert seems to stare through her when he finishes, and she hopes to god or whatever is out there that he’s right. She doesn’t want to have to deal with a teenage girl with the power to so thoroughly control someone they want to go from killing her to killing _for_ her.

\--

When everything is finally finished, and she’s back at her desk in her best chair, she checks to see if the back channel the directors use under the table for unofficial business they don’t want recorded. Typically, she ignores it, since some love clogging it up with unneeded things. She doesn’t argue about that, since if anyone looks at it, they’ll just see the garbage, not the sort of thing she’s using it for at the moment.

Which is how the Directors in the southern sections of the PRT deal with the Master sections of the Fallen. 

And she has her response, but she can certainly tell it is not at all done officially. Especially since it is a list, and not any sort of report. Which is good, she’ll get through it faster.

Leaning back, she glances over the greetings, and general talk at the top. ‘Be careful, blah blah. Avoid being looked at or touched, yada yada.’

Now, the list. She'll just start with the first one, and-

… 

She closes her eyes, and very carefully spins slightly in her chair, resting her head on her desk. It doesn’t help.The first recommendation pains her, and she can still see it in her mind’s eye. 

‘1. If you do not already have one, acquire a bottle of whiskey or hard alcohol of your choice and place it in a desk drawer within easy access. If you don’t drink, you will want to start.’

Fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Depression hitting me pretty hard. Anxiety says I have to update Tuesdays, though, so that means I update Tuesdays.
> 
> Brain bad :V
> 
> I hope you enjoy the chapter. Thank you for reading.


	5. A Walk With Alec, Meal Making

“I get this on in the right way?” Taylor asks, adjusting the wig cap. She pokes at it as she inspects her reflection.

Alec is lounging to the best of his ability in the tub, having flopped down from the edge of it about a half minute in from watching Taylor get ready. “It’s fine.”

“You know I can _see_ you in the mirror, right?”

He doesn’t look up from his phone, clearly playing a game as he kicks his shoe clad feet that hang over the lip of the tub, “It’s fine.”

She coughs pointedly, and when he doesn’t respond, she moves closer, slowly moving her finger closer and closer to his face, “Alec.”

“It’s fine,” he repeats, not noticing. When the finger finally gets into his eyesight, he jumps a bit, skidding slightly in the attempt to get away from her, but accidentally touches her hand in his flailing. He droops down when he realizes, asking resignedly, “What did you put on me?”

“Nothing. I just want to know if I have all my hair in the cap on the back.”

Giving her a plaintive look, he checks her over, and tucks a wisp into it. “Lemme see all of it, c’mon.” He twirls a finger to make his point even more clear.

Rolling her eyes, she does twirl in a small circle. He tucks a few more in, pats it down a bit, finally waving a hand in a shooing motion. Glancing in the mirror, she can see it looks way better, and she moves to the selection of wigs she now has, “What color?”

“If you’re trying to look boring, probably brown.”

“Brown is too close to my original hair color, though.” Granted, her hair is originally black, but still, it might cause suspicion. Plus, none of the wigs have the level of curl she’s used to.

“Choose one that least looks like what you had, what does it matter?”

She looks at him for a few seconds, “Ah, so you _want_ to be associated with an outed parahuman, and people will-”

“Alright, alright.” He mutters something too low for her to hear, getting out of the tub. He picks up a pink wig, “This one.”

Raising both eyebrows, she takes it, and carefully puts it on. “Looks okay, I guess.”

“Yeah, who cares, anyway. Let’s go! You said that you’ll come with me and let me buy more of the stupid two per customer thing for the specialty batteries I need.”

She starts walking with him, “Why do you need so many, anyway?”

“My sceptre runs through the things, and Lisa says she won’t ask the boss to replace them, since I ‘abuse’ it or something.”

“You like hitting us with it.”

“Not with the prongs!”

“Lisa said that you hit Brian with them when you first got it.”

“And then he hit me with it! Twice!”

She pats him mockingly on the shoulder as they head to the common area, “I’m sure you deserved worse.”

“Fuck you.”

She laughs at him, grabbing his hand and tugging him to where they’re coats are before putting her own on. “Let’s get going, I have people to tell they don’t want to hurt me or you.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

She looks over her shoulder as they start leaving the base, eyebrows waggling sillily, “I can just… not include keeping you safe?”

“Oh, don’t you dare,” he says, pushing her lightly, a grin on his face. “That’s why I bugged you into this, not Brian or Lisa.”

“You’re just jealous I’ve been including Lisa because she comes with me on my walks.”

“Damn right I am. Mostly since she made fun of me for refusing to walk with you before.” He locks the door behind them, “If I’d realized what the walks were about, I’d have gone then.”

“Better late than never, I suppose.” She nudges him lightly, “We’ll get your stuff first, but we’re going to need to try to get close to various people as we go.”

“No problem. I do want to know something, though.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you make a dude not racist or something?”

She hums softly, thinking about it, “Probably not how you think? Like, I can't make them stop instantly, but I can make them do or say something when they’re doing racist things. Or think racist things.”

“Like?”

“Whenever they think anything commenting on someone’s race, they instead slap themselves fairly hard?” She shrugs, “Why ask this, anyway?”

“I’m thinking that if we go near some Empire idiots, I want one of them to punch anyone using various slurs, and we both have something to snack on as we watch them get into a fight with the others in the gang.”

“We should get the snacks first, since you know they won’t stay quiet long enough to let us go to a store, pay, and come back out.”

“Well, I’m fine with that.”

She gives him a thumbs up, and says, “Oh, look.” She jerks her head at a dude about two blocks down, “We gotta get to the other side of the street so I can get that dude. C’mon.”

He groans, but follows her easily as she jogs across the street in front of a car that honks angrily at them. She can see him flip the car off, but doesn’t seem to do anything else. Now on the sidewalk, he glances to the man, “So, Lisa explained your general compulsions are wanting no kill orders or the Birdcage?”

“Yeah. You’ll be on the latest one in that, too. Anyone who is with me as I do this will get the help. I’m hoping Brian will use this as the obvious time to ask me to add him, meaning he’s less grumpy at me.”

He grins at her, “Got a crush, huh?”

“What?” Taylor gives him a confused look, “How is this supposed to show I have a crush on him? He’s good looking, I guess, but not really my thing?”

“You sure? He’s tall, he’s handsome, he’s also very nice,” Alec lists, ticking off the three attributes on a finger each.

“Seems more like _you_ want to date him,” she says, and reaches out to casually touch the man they walk past. “He's your type then, huh?”

“Me and Brian? No. He’s so… straight arrow, and that’s pretty impressive, given our jobs.”

“You mean he’s too moral for you?”

“Yeah, I’d say so. Also, he’s a huge stick in the mud, can’t have any fun. Sure, I’d sleep with him a few times, but that’s not a basis for a relationship. … I think he’s straight, too?”

She shrugs, “Maybe. We could ask him, but since neither of us are interested in him, I don’t think it matters.”

“We could try setting him up with Lisa.”

Glaring at him, she says, “Lisa is ace. Don’t do that to her.”

“I’ve seen her check him out!”

“Yeah, but trying to put a sex repulsed asexual with someone who would want more than she’s willing to give is cruelty. Don’t even suggest it.”

“How about Rachel, then?”

“Brian and _Rachel_?”

“Why not? Come on, tell me why not. I wanna hear a good reason.”

“Aside from the fact that Rachel and Brian would both refuse?”

“You sure they would? Maybe Rachel would be into it.”

That makes her pause, thinking about it, “Okay, so maybe Rachel would be fine with it, but I’d bet Brian would get all whiny and complainy about the idea of us setting them up. Something about being the leader and it being unprofessional or whatever.”

“He would.”

She pokes him lightly, “He would.” Looking around, she frowns a bit, “So, thoughts on Lee?”

“I like how he can play video games now.”

“You mean he’s bad at them, so you win, even without cheating.”

“Same thing.”

“Not even remotely, but at least he can choose to do things, and seems to like what he’s doing.” Which appears to be drawing, since she left him in his room with paper and pencils. He can also go to the bathroom and eat food. He can't _make_ food without supervision, but they’re doing their best to fix things. She isn’t sure if that’s something he was unable to do before her compulsions, but they’re slowly teaching the man.

Well, Lisa is. Alec is also unable to cook, while Brian finds Lee creepy, and Taylor is ‘banned from meal prep,’ for some damned reason. Break a chopping board, and nobody wants her near the knives. Damn them.

“I guess. I’m hoping he starts making us pancakes in the morning, since he always wanders around there in the morning.”

“You’re up in the morning?” she narrows her eyes, studying him, “Who are you and what did you do to Alec?”

“Fuck off. I wake up before noon more often than you do, nerd.” He yelps a bit as she shoves him, “Hey!”

“Hey nothing! I wake up before ten regularly, while sometimes I need to drop a cup of water on you so you don’t try to instinctively…” she frowns, rolling her shoulders in a slight shrug, “you know.”

He sighs, “I still hate that you make me hit myself, but still. I also get up before noon, and can before ten like you.”

“Prove it. Tomorrow, get up before me. I won’t even get up earlier than I usually do, or go to bed earlier.” She absently tags more people as they make their way closer to where they’re going.

“Oh, you’ll see that I will.”

“If you say so,” she waves a hand dismissively. “Personally, I doubt it.”

“I’ll be up before you are.”

From how he says it, she knows there’s a trick, and she has a heavy suspicion on what that is. “No just staying up all night and morning.”

“Would I do that?” he asks, like butter won’t melt in his mouth.

In response, she punches him lightly on the shoulder, “Bitch, you would. If you do that, I’ll turn this into a bet, and not sleeping at all will get you forced to attempt to sleep when I say a certain word.”

He makes a face, “No thanks.”

“Yeah, I thought so. This is just you proving you can wake up early. I don't care if you have to use multiple alarms to do it.”

He groans, “Fine, fine. Pushy, pushy.”

She sticks her tongue out at him and bites at his fingers when he tries to grab it. “I will hurt you,” she growls.

“Promises, promises,” he says with a wink.

“I can hurt you _right now_ , if you want.”

He huffs, “You’re no fun.”

In response, she grabs his arm and lightly bites him, no pressure, more just pressing her teeth lightly against him. He yelps in surprise, and pushes her a bit. Landing against a wall, she moves to playfully attack him, only for him to start tickling her. Between her laughter, she manages to flip them so he’s against the wall, and it takes her a bit to do it, but she manages to pin him there, arms held above his head.

Panting slightly, she holds him there, hips shoved against him and his legs forced against the wall, “No… tickling. Ya… got… that?”

In response, he rolls his hips, and kisses her.

Freezing for a half second, her grip loosens, and he uses that to free his arms and wrap them around her, tugging her closer. Relaxing a bit, she presses into the kiss, returning it easily. She does press him a little harder into the wall for a little longer, but slowly moves away to break the impromptu makeout session.

Tilting her head, she asks, “We gonna repeat that later?”

He presses a kiss to her mouth, “Sure.”

She takes his hand in hers, and starts to walk, tagging a person they pass. “Well, let’s get this date truly started, shall we?”

Alec looks at her critically, but says, “I’m not… good with emotions.”

“Eh, we’ll work something out. Don’t worry about it.”

He relaxes against her, and interlaces their fingers, not saying anything else.

\--

Taylor pats Lee lightly on his back, checking his compulsions, and she feels pretty good about them. “How do you feel?”

He blinks at her for a long second, but she knows this is just him thinking things through, “Better than yesterday.”

She perks up happily, “Great! You think you’re up to making food?”

“... Stir fry?”

“Sounds good.” She walks next to him as they head to the kitchen, “Let’s just check what we have in the fridge.” Thankfully, the thing is clean, even if that’s mostly due to her and Lisa’s efforts. Granted, some of it has stuff that’s annoying to deal with, but she gets it’s a communal fridge. 

Case in point, she’s sighing at Rachel’s bones in there when they get it open. Moving them slightly, she shakes her head, knowing the girl will get angry if she even suggests using the things for soup _first_. She’s pretty sure that beef bones are fine? But those are not hers, and Rachel will know better than her.

Shoving the idea out of her head like she does with said bones, she finds the communal meat and veggies for the food. Technically, she and Lee should just make food for the two of them, since they’re their own group, but it is just… easier to make food for everyone. And it gives a larger budget, anyway. She’s just glad the boss does that as part of the expenses in addition to their pay.

Passing the food to Lee, she hums as they start to set things up. She’s the one dealing with the wok and stove at the moment, since Lee is significantly better at knife work than she is. In fact, he keeps taking the knife from her in chastisement. Something about it being ‘unsafe’ how she holds things and how he’s afraid she’ll cut off a hand or something. She is explicitly feigning forgetfulness at her ban on single blade tools.

Look, it only makes _sense_ to put an arm far back and slam it down when it’s a particularly tough slab of meat. She still has no idea how the hell to sharpen a knife, and how that supposedly helps. Just, like, get a bigger knife? But no, cleavers aren't supposed to be used to chop up vegetables for some reason. 

All these dumb knife rules.

Lee pokes her, “Are you complaining about knives in your head again?”

“I just think I should be allowed to use a meat cleaver!”

“No.”

“Come on! I could be-”

He pushes a cooking spider into her hand, “I’m not going to show you the hiding spot. I will come home after shopping, and see you and Alec fighting with them.”

“I wouldn’t,” she mumbles, realizing she absolutely will, and how cool that would be. 

“Mmmhmmmm,” he hums, looking unimpressed.

She looks away, pouring oil in the wok, “I just… It would be very cool, okay? I admit it! It would be _so_ cool!”

“That’s why you’re not allowed knives,” Lisa says from the doorway.

“Betrayal!” she yells.

Lee, unfortunately, agrees with Lisa, “Exactly. I know how many I have, and no, you can't have any of them.”

Taylor mutters about traitors, but doesn’t argue. Lisa pushes her over with her hip, taking the spider from her, and dipping the wiring into the oil, “Looks about ready. Got the meat ready? And you,” she jabs Taylor, “take the rice from the fridge.”

She grumbles some more as she searches for the cooked rice, and Lee passes over the food to be fried. At least she’ll have more food. “Brian coming over?”

“Yeah, since the boss is still working on getting him that apartment.”

“He should bring his sister over.”

Lisa and Lee both laugh at that, which is good, since she does mean it as a joke. Brian is terrified of them being bad influences if his sister ever finds out about his job. Which is funny, since Lisa explains to her about how Aisha is already her own bad influence. 

Putting the rice down, she says, “Should I go tell Rachel and Alec to get down here?”

“Yes,” Lisa tells her.

Lee, the spoilsport, informs her, “Don’t just yell up. Either go up or inform them on the phone.”

“Fiiiine,” she huffs, and heads out of the kitchen, pulling out her cell. She sends Alec a text, receiving a thumbs up emoji in response, and calls Rachel. 

“What?”

Rolling her eyes, she says, “Food should be ready soon.”

“You better not have touched my stuff.”

“Nah, the bones are safe. You know best on what to do with those.” Not like Taylor bought them, even if she thinks it’s a waste. Not her money. “It’s stir fry.”

“I’ll be down,” with that, Taylor can see the line’s dead.

Shrugging, she says to the kitchen, “I’ll set the table.”

She’s looking forward to eating, and she’s glad that it will be as close to a happy family meal as she can get.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My brain is real bad lately. Anxiety is ratcheting along with the depression. I've been getting tension headaches more and more, and I wake up to find I've been chewing on my hand in my sleep. Not exactly doing well.
> 
> I hope you have been enjoying the fic, though. Knowing that people like my work helps sometimes.


	6. Names, A Meeting

Taylor hums softly as she straightens up Lee’s new costume. Black, protective, but now with feathering motifs all over it, and a blank slightly feminine mask to imply a great deal more than it says. She starts to help with his knives, only for him to grab her wrist and push them away.

“Aw, come on!”

“No.” He starts putting them in place himself as she crosses her arms grumpily. Ignoring her, he then places the specialty grenades the boss provided them, making sure they’re safe.

“I should be allowed,” she argues, if only to show how unfair this is. Someday she’ll find the meat cleaver, then who will be laughing?

Her, since she’ll have a meat cleaver. 

He ignores her, and asks, “Have we chosen a new name for me?”

She sighs, “Not… not really. I know the boss says I’m Mailaket, but I don’t know-”

“Milyaket,” he corrects gently.

“Shit, I can’t even remember the name they give me, how can I know what we call you?”

“Something that _won’t_ upset Lung,” he informs her.

“Yeah, I know. I just…” She looks at her phone, searching angel names, “How about Ramiel? The fallen watcher?”

“Something else.” 

Shit, right, his accent will butcher it. “Seraph?”

“How about Guardian?”

“Pretty sure there’s a hero called that,” she mutters, checking. “Yeah. How about…” She translates it over to Sorani, “Wekil. At least, according to Google translate.”

“Wekil is fine. We’ll do that.”

“Alright, cool. Let’s head on down.” She turns to the door, only for him to grab her wrist, and carefully pull her back to put her mask on. Chuckling nervously, “I meant to do that.”

He just pats her head, and leads her down the steps.

“What up, bitches!” Alec yells at them from the couch.

She watches as Brian tries to smother her boyfriend with a pillow, saying, “So, what’s this about a meeting at Summer’s Rock?”

“Somer’s Rock,” Lee corrects, sounding a little tired.

“Yeah, that.”

Lisa is typing away on her laptop, “I’m almost certain the meeting is about you, mostly since you stole away Lee.”

“I’m Wekil now,” he informs her.

“Good to know. But from what I can tell, Lung initiated the meeting, Kaiser somehow agreed, and now the various indies are coming, too. It looks like even New Wave is planning on showing up.”

“They are?” Taylor asks, part of her kind of wanting to put her hands on them.

Lisa gives her a sharp look, reading her like a children’s book, “Be on your _best_ behavior around them. They’re known to be kinder to villians than most non-PRT heroes. I’m pretty sure they even adopted a villain’s daughter, but I’ll need to actually see Panacea in person to know for sure.”

“Isn’t it on their website?”

“Just that Panacea is adopted.”

“Oh…” Makes sense, since she somehow knew about the adoption, and when Lisa said villain’s kid, it made sense, so she just assumed it was entirely there. “You think she’ll be there?”

“No.”

She’s disappointed, but unsurprised. Why put the healer in a situation where she’s surrounded by villains? She is significantly less tempted to just dart over to them and touch them. Sure, it would be nice, but it also is not at all that pressing a feeling. She just wants a healer on call, okay? Keep her healthy, and keep the rest of her friends safe. 

At least this makes her keeping the truce _way_ easier.

“What indies will be there?”

“Well, there’s probably going to be some of the indie heroes, but mostly it will be people on par with Stain.”

“Who is Stain?”

“Exactly. But he’s a guy who can put down fields that will speed up or stop things. Probably other stuff, but I need to see his powers in action to know.”

“What about…. Uber and Leet?” She knows about them from their show, even if the humor isn’t really her thing. She had to deal with Greg going on and on about them in history class, too, so her opinion of them is probably lower than it should be.

“Yeah, them, too.”

She makes a face, and flops onto the couch, poking Alec. “Hey, you.”

He smiles at her, and refocuses on the game he’s playing against Brian, “Hey, sexy.”

“So, I’m gonna sit next to you and-”

“No, you’re not,” Brian informs her. “We got the orders from the boss, and you’re to come in last. We’ll send you a text when that happens.”

She groans, “Fine. But if that happens, I’m gonna sit at the same table as Lung and Kaiser. You want that?”

“No!” Brian yells.

However, both Alec and Lisa yell, “Yes!” and then laugh.

Brian drops the controller, and groans into his hands. While Lee just sighs, shaking his head. Alec takes his chance to absolutely murder Brian in the game, jumping up and doing a mocking dance in celebration. To encourage him, Taylor cheers and claps her hands.

Rachel, the spoilsport, says, “Shut up.”

It does calm things down, but Brain still looks like he wants to find someone who will commiserate with him. Unfortunately for him, nobody in this building will do that, and Taylor kind of wants to have Alec mock him even more. She’s half tempted to tell him to, but Lisa stands up, snapping her laptop closed. “Okay, time to get ready. Rachel, _wear your fucking mask_.”

Rachel growls about that, but puts it on. “Hate this stupid fuckin’ thing.”

“She has a point,” Taylor says. “Why does she have a cheap mask, unlike us?”

“Because we did _three_ good masks that she threw away before we gave up and now just have a huge box full of those,” Brian tells her with a sigh.

“I hate masks,” Rachel grumbles, standing up. “Let’s get outside.” Brutus, Judas, and Angelica hop up excitedly when she whistles at them, and the rest of the team follows after. 

\--

Glancing at the text, Taylor nods at Lee, and slams the door to Somer’s open, “Hello, everyone - I’d heard there was going to be a little dinner party all about me, and well, how couldn’t I show up to a party about _me_? Seems rude that I didn’t get an invite, I had to find out second-hand.”

She ignores the various angry and shocked looks, sauntering in, and throwing a filthy looking man out of the chair at the opposite side of the table where Lung and Kaiser are. Said man curses very inventively at her, but she ignores him to sit in the chair. The cursing chokes off, and she feels Lee’s hand settle on her shoulder, while he says softly, “Keep a civil tongue in your head when you refer to Milyaket.”

Patting his fingers, she says cheerfully, “Thanks, Wekil.”

“Lee!” Lung stands up, chair falling down behind him. “Free him from your control this instant.”

She stares at him, then says, “You mean, force him to return to an angry master who just wants him to keep working for him until his brains leak out of his ears? I’m gonna go with, ‘Nah, bitch.’”

Lee coughs slightly, “Language.”

She sighs, “Alright, alright. Lung, the answer is that won’t be happening. He’s much happier being treated as a human being.”

Lady Photon of New Wave asks, “What do you mean?”

“You see, he would only order him around, and-”

“I meant about his brain leaking out his ears.”

“Wow, no caring how he wasn’t seen as a person, but alright. His powers hurt him when he uses them in rapid succession, and before I fixed him, all he could really do was not want to die, need to eat, and follow orders. Now he can do what he likes doing, and can easily ignore orders.”

“Even your orders?”

She rolls her eyes, “Wekil, gimme one of your knives.”

“No. You’re still not allowed near knives until I’m certain you won’t hurt someone with them.”

“I _order_ you to give me a knife.”

He grabs her hand as she attempts to take one off his costume, “Stop that, brat.”

She tugs her hand away, huffing. “Someday, I’ll find the cleaver you hid, and then I’ll cut up all the food. Just you watch.”

“This is why you aren’t allowed knives.”

She mutters irritably as various people in the room snicker at her. Kaiser, however, sounds annoyed, “I’m sure you find this farce amusing, but she is _still_ a danger! Who’s to say she won’t Master more teammates away from us?”

Taylor snorts, “Yeah, I’m not gonna do that. I only _accidentally_ Mastered Lee into that before. It was due to his brain problems I could do that at all.”

“Prove it,” Lung growls. 

She stares at him, “How? Anyone willing to volunteer and let me wrap them up as tightly as I can in my power? I can’t even make people stop being racist.”

“It was you!”

“What?” she asks, genuinely confused, staring at Hookwolf.

“I can’t say n-” and he punches Kaiser, right in his face.

She and Alec both laugh like mad, and the only reason she doesn’t fall on the floor like he does is due to Wekil holding her steady in the seat. She can see others join them laughing, but it is slightly delayed as they process exactly what happened. 

“Oh my _god_ ,” she hears Brandish say, clinging to Lady Photon and shaking a bit as she laughs. Faultline is shaking violently, but not as much as Gregor is, the man’s deep voice carrying through the entire bar. Newter is curled up and snickering, hands on his face. Next to her, she can hear Coil snicker softly, trying to hold still and look serious. But that’s nothing on how Lung’s shoulders are shaking in very suppressed laughter, and she’s damn sure he’s biting his lips under his mask. 

Kaiser, ever the racist party pooper, drawls, “Yes, how _amusing_. Now, explain why this little demonstration doesn’t prove why we should just kill her now, and be done with it?”

Lee coughs pointedly, and holds up a grenade, “If you attempt it, I will kill you myself. If you succeed, I will kill _everyone_ here.”

“So let’s not get this nice bar’s floors dirty, huh?” Lisa says. 

“Like he’d kill you, you’re on the same team, and-”

“No, we aren’t. We _told_ you this,” Brian says, sounding annoyed.

“Yeah, I kinda got taken off the team. That happens when they’re just robbers, and I apparently am a bigger league than they mean to get. I’ve got my own group, though. I just need to name it. We have a theme, too. So, unless you match it, I don’t think you can join.”

“What… what’s the theme?” Leet asks, sounding curious.

“You need to wear feathers, for one.”

Leet blanches, staring at her worriedly, and Uber pats his partner on the back, whispering softly to him. Maybe asking why Leet even asked, or possibly giving support. Maybe they’re going to talk about going on a date, just like the fanfictions she read that one time. They’re just in what seem to be fitted black suits, like what’s needed to get into a fancy restaurant, all they need to do is take off those dark sunglasses they’re wearing.

“Can I join?” one of the people she doesn’t recognize asks. She’s wearing an orange outfit with a gasmask.

“I’m not gonna recruit during a truce, seems kind of tacky.” She gives the person finger guns, “But nothing says it’s wrong to do so _afterwards_. Talk to me about it then, and we’ll see.” Spreading her arms, she says, “But about what all this is actually about. I have no plans on mastering you lot, since I don’t see much of a point. I only got that asshole,” she jabs a thumb at Hookwolf, who literally growls at her, “by accident. But who can blame me for wanting a bunch of random nazis not to use slurs, and then get into a fight for using slurs?”

“You bitch, I’ll fucking gut you like a-”

She cuts him off, “I don’t even know what you look like under your mask. You think I paid attention to that?” Even if she has a strong suspicion about which of that group is Hookwolf, but she’s not admitting that. “Also, this is a _truce_ , no threats allowed.”

“And what of what… Wekil said earlier?”

“Threats aren’t the same thing as warnings. Besides, you were planning on killing me then, and he just wanted to remind you that’s a very stupid idea.” Taylor looks at Hookwolf, “Keep that in mind. You _might_ survive, but the rest of your group won’t be as lucky.”

More growling. 

“Leash your dog, Kaiser,” Lung snaps.

Hookwolf jumps up, “You fucking-” and he punches Kaiser in the face again.

Man, choosing _multiple_ nasty names for various minorities was a great call for that date with Alec. Taylor isn’t laughing this time, but most of the rest of the people here are. Of course, she _is_ grinning very widely, so she’s certain Kaiser is still just as angry now. And possibly wishing Purity were there to possibly take the punches instead.

She says, “I can remove those, if you want. Just let me touch you, and-”

“No,” Kaiser grinds out. “We will be dealing with this on our own terms.”

She shrugs, arms lifting and hands flat, “Alright.” Like she cares about a nazi punching other nazis. “Anyway, I think this meeting is pretty much done. I’m gonna head out.” She hops up, “C’mon, Wekil.” 

She heads to the door, and that unknown cape scrambles to join them. Walking out, she keeps going, hurrying to a more defensible area. The cape yelps, “Wait for me!”

“Walk and talk, walk and talk! We wanna get going before they can find us, since I don’t want Wekil to need to kill for me.”

“Right!” 

They get out of sight, she glances at the text Lisa sends her, and she says, “Actually, no talking, we’re running for a bit.”

“O-okay?”

Lee easily keeps pace as they run flat out, and when Taylor is gasping unhappily, they duck into a building that doesn’t seem to be more than a boarded up shell. She groans, and sits on the floor, “Ugh, I need to get into shape, and I hate it.”

“You should do more than walk,” Lee informs her, heartlessly.

“I like walking,” she whines.

The parahuman coughs, saying, “Ah, I’m Spitfire.”

“So you… spit fire, I’m guessing?”

“Yeah.” She ducks down, the gasmask she’s wearing making it hard to know what she’s thinking. “I would like to join your group. It’s clear you have capital, so… I wouldn’t mind joining entirely, and-”

Taylor holds up a hand, “How could that be clear?”

“Ah… your outfits, really.”

She nods, unable to argue, “Yeah, you’d be right, too. We have a boss. I don’t actually know who he is, but he’s good with paying us and will pay us per job in addition to a two thousand minimum a month.”

“Oh! Better than most jobs.” The girl perks up, “I’d like that.”

“Cool, cool.” She stands up, glancing at Lisa’s text. “And, good news, you get to come with us as we’re picked up.” She sends information on where they are. “It’s going to be a little uncomfortable, but not _terrible_. The hard part is convincing Bitch to allow it.”

“Bitch?”

“Yeah, we’re working with the Undersiders, even if we’re no longer part of them.”

“I can deal with that.”

“Cool, cool.” She groans, “I hate exercise.”

“You’re going to run with me,” Lee informs her.

“Yeah, I will. I’ll make sure we both have matching wigs.”

He just chuckles quietly, and looks through the door. Spitfire looks between the both of them, “Will… I be exercising, too?”

“I dunno, will you?” Taylor asks, eyeing the wall and deciding against leaning on it due to how filthy it is. Cleaning her costume is a bitch, and she doesn’t want to have to deal with more gross things on it.

“You should,” Lee says easily. “We will need to rename you to better fit our theme, too.”

“How did you guys choose your names?”

Taylor waves a hand, “I didn’t. I was given it by the PRT, and our boss told me about it, so I’m keeping it. Hell yes, I’ll accept being called Angel in Miss Militia’s native language. She could punch me, and I’d fucking thank her.”

Spitfire says nothing for a long moment, gasmask making it hard to know what the hell the other girl is thinking. Finally, she says with a nod, “That’s really fucking gay.”

Frowning, Taylor crosses her arms, “What the fuck do you mean?”

“That’s the sort of thing you say when you’re attracted to them.”

“What? No, I’m fine. I don’t-”

Lee puts a gentle hand on her shoulder, “Milyaket, I’ve seen you look at girls your age just like you do with boys your age.” He lightly ruffles her hair, the white strands messily getting in front of her eyes, “It’s fine.”

“But… I’m not?” She puts her back in order, staring at nothing as she thinks this over. “... am I?”

Spitfire pats her back gingerly, “It’s not a big deal. I mean, I’ve had a few girlfriends, myself.”

“I just…” She bites her lower lip, worrying it as she examines her past thoughts on girls. 

She’s so deep in thought, she mostly just follows when Bitch’s dogs show up with the Undersiders to pick them up. She climbs on in autopilot, barely noticing as Grue and Tattletale both have to talk Bitch into allowing Spitfire on.

She has so much to think about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm doing so bad mentally, and have for ages. Not much I can do about it.


	7. A Talk, and Gearing Up

Laying on Alec’s lap as he plays a video game, Taylor says, “... I think I’m bi.”

“Alright, cool. So am I.”

She blinks, then relaxes, no longer so tense, “Nice. So, I don’t know how to really feel about me being this? Emily had-”

He interrupts, surprisingly gently, “I’m not really good at talking about these things, so uh… maybe Lisa? She’d be way better about this than me. Even if she’s ace, she genuinely would be better at this than me.”

Part of her wants to argue he _should_ care, but he does have that damage from his dad. She doesn't really… know who his father is, since he won’t talk about it, but Taylor knows due to the man, a ton of Alec’s emotions are just broken. She hums, thinking about it, and finally saying, “Yeah, good call. Pause your game.”

He huffs good naturedly, and pauses it so she can get up. Before she can head off, he tugs her down and gives her a quick kiss. “Tell Lisa she can kiss you if you both want. I don’t care. Just that I expect to be told if you start dating.” He rolls his eyes at her incredulous look, “If you find a girlfriend, tell me. I don’t own you.”

She snorts, standing straight, “I don’t think that will happen.”

He shrugs, and pushes at her legs, “Go, go. I’m trying to play, and you’re blocking my TV.”

She moves out of the way, but as she does, she taps his nose, making him roll his eyes at her. She walks away, waving a hand, “Have fun.”

“You better not have used your power on me,” he calls back.

“You’ll see if I had,” she blows a kiss at him. The tap to the nose has no master effect, but Alec will just slightly be on his guard about it, knowing that if she does actually do it, all he needs to do is ask her to remove it. He no longer even has the hurting himself for using his power on her or Lee. 

Making her way to the bedrooms, she knocks on Lisa’s door, and she can hear her friend call out, “Yeah?”

“It’s me. Are you available for me to talk?”

“Oh, sure? Come in.” She can hear the shuffling of paper and tapping of fingers on a laptop.

Opening the door, she peeks in to see a pile of paper, and Lisa on a laptop. A glance at the paper shows an image that doesn't actually make sense to her, so she just mentally shrugs. Whatever Lisa gets up to, that’s Lisa’s business, not Taylor’s.

Sitting gingerly on the edge of the bed, she says, “So… I’m bi.”

Lisa glances at her, “Okay. And I take it that you are talking to me about that here instead of when I’m downstairs because you want to try kissing and-”

“No! Lisa! I’m just-”

Lisa grins at her, grabbing her hand, “I’m joking, it’s okay. I know you’re not. But I can’t just _not_ tug at you if I can, right?”

She huffs, pouting, but lays on the other girl’s bed, pushing at Lisa’s laptop so she’ll turn it off. “I _guess_ , but as penance, you need to talk to me about this. I only just found out.”

“Because of Agir, right?” Spitfire isn’t the happiest with her name, but also accepts it. Emily is a nice girl, but damn if she hasn’t thrown Taylor into a mental tizzy.

“Yeah. How’d you know?”

“Lee told me. He’s worried about you.”

She frowns, “Why?”

Lisa stares at her for a little bit, saying carefully, “Taylor, you almost fell down the steps, and it is only due to Brian being in front of you and heading up that you didn't break something.”

“I’ve been fine with worse falls,” she dismisses.

“You were on the _stairs_ , and missed a step as you were walking down. You hadn’t even put your arms out to brace your fall.”

“I would have been fine.” She pushes at Lisa’s laptop, “Now, I want to talk.”

“Fill me in,” Lisa sets the laptop to the side, and Taylor moves so her head is now in the other girl’s lap. That gets a fond sounding sigh, and Lisa’s fingers run through her hair, “Incorrigible.”

“You like it,” she says with a grin.

That gets a sharp index finger jabbed into her side, “You wanted to talk, now talk.”

Taylor squirms, pouting, “No being mean to me. I’m amazing and you know it. I don’t deserve this abuse.”

“Just tell me, or I’ll put the laptop on your face and get back to work.”

“You wouldn’t do tha- Hey!” Taylor pushes at the laptop Lisa is bringing close to her lap, “No! I’ll talk!”

The laptop is placed back to the side, and Lisa looks down at her, “Talk.”

“So… Emily made me realize I’m bi, but I dunno how I feel about that?”

“Why is that?” Lisa’s fingers run through her hair, soothing and warm.

“I was mocked… a lot in… in….” Her heart is speeding up, and her breath grows short, “I just.. It wasn’t- I couldn’t be-”

Lisa stares down at her, and looks so very sadly at her, “It was horrible, I know. They hurt you, and no one would help you.”

Taylor closes her eyes, “Well, I made it so they won’t ever hurt me again.”

“Do you want to talk about that with me?”

“I gave them what they deserve. Shouldn’t you know this already?” She opens her eyes, ever so slightly, “Or are you not bullshit Thinker, able to snoop on the PRT without getting caught?”

“I know the general things, but nothing too specific. Hess constantly beats herself unconscious at the mention of violence, both done to her and her being the one doing it. “

Taylor chuckles darkly, “Yeah. She’ll never shove me down the steps again. She’ll punch herself into brain damage, if I’m lucky. And I’m gonna say, since I became a big scary human master, I’m the scariest in the Bay, and I deserve the title.”

That gets a tap on the nose, “You’re getting very cocky. If I have to, I’ll puncture that bag of hot air you call an ego.”

“Liar. You’re one to talk about ego.”

“You want me to talk to you about Emma, so let’s do that, hmm?”

Taylor can’t hide her grimace, “I guess. It just…” She sighs looking away, “I took care of that problem, and she’ll never annoy me again.”

“Did you?”

Staring up at Lisa as the girl pets her hair, she actually thinks about the question, turning it over like a puzzle in her mind. Finally, she says, “They’re… not important. Not to me, not now. Of course, should I see Emma or any of her family, they’re gonna have a bad time.”

A small smile graces Lisa’s lips, her pretty hair falling a little to tickle Taylor’s nose, only to be pushed back over her shoulder. “You’re ridiculous.” Lisa’s fingers drag on Taylor’s face softly, “And the others? They had various compulsions on them, ones no one seems to be able to break.”

She shrugs, genuinely uncaring, “They won’t ever be able to look away from an abuse victim again.”

“Can’t argue with that.”

“Not gonna yell at me for what I did?”

Lisa shrugs, “You got back to school, they were all gathered around your locker - that smelled like death - and clearly plotting something. I looked at the police report, it was full of biological waste. So, no, they got what they deserve. If you hadn’t triggered during the winter break, their plan to shove you into it would have. Even if that truth compulsion on the Madison girl seems… harsh. She deserves it.”

“Can’t lie about how she steals homework. Can’t even shade the truth. No half truths, only saying what she knows to be true. No weasel words, either.”

Lisa snorts, “Maybe you should use that if we need to interrogate people.”

She hums, “We don’t really… grab people.”

“The _Undersiders_ don’t, but the boss might with the Choir, since you’re a team of powerful people.”

“Agir can’t exactly… go nonlethal.”

“There’s the plan to get her a tinkertech helmet with her costume from the boss. He’s just figuring out what he can.”

“Sounds… expensive.” She frowns, “And what of when it inevitably breaks down from lack of maintenance?”

“He’ll replace it.”

“Alright, sounds cool to me. You know, as long as he doesn’t take it out of Emily’s salary. I want her to be safe and happy.” She realizes forcing the girl to pay for it would just leave her more and more in debt of the boss’s making, and then the Choir will need to have a very firm _chat_ with this faceless man in charge. She stares up at Lisa, “I am bi, and I don’t know how I feel about that.”

Lisa smiles down at her, fingers warm and comfortable as they cradle her face, “What would help with that, do you think?”

“Maybe kissing some girls, but I also don’t wanna do that. I don’t know if I want to do more than kissing, or what, but I just…” She trails off, looking away, and staring at one of the papers Lisa has just hanging in her room. A graph of something, and writing too small to read from so far away.

“You just wish you didn’t feel so confused and worried.”

Closing her eyes, Taylor says softly, “For all that Legend coming out helped, that didn’t stop the other girls mocking and insulting me. ‘Oh gross, it’s Taylor, make sure you don’t change around her or she’ll try to rape you,’ or ‘I bet you’d like this, won’t you, Hebert? Too bad, you’re too disgusting for anyone to want to touch,’ and on and on. While _also_ implying I’d turn tricks for pennies to anyone at all that would have me.”

Lisa pets her hair softly, “What they did was disgusting, and you didn’t deserve that. No one did. They’re lucky that- Ah, nevermind.”

“What?” She opens her eyes, staring up as Lisa nibbles on her bottom lip nervously. “Ah… so you figured out my trigger, huh?”

“You let her off light,” Lisa says, voice slightly choked.

“She didn’t… do more than push me into a corner, Lisa. Just… she…” She takes a deep breath, “She managed to get her hands under my shirt and sho- It’s okay. I mean, the bruises and cuts are gone, and I’ll never see her again, not if she sees me first.”

Lisa tugs her a little, and she moves with it, letting the other girl lay them both on the bed, arm wrapped around Taylor’s waist, other hand still petting her hair. “Just because you’re fine _now_ doesn’t mean it wasn’t horrible. You never should have been-”

“It isn’t like she got too far, Lisa. I mean, she was just about… she-” Her throat closes, and maybe she _did_ let the girl off lightly. But it was just a girl who bullied her randomly, not constantly. And Taylor had been stupid, just going to a place on her own, where anyone could have followed, and-

Lisa interrupts her internal rambling, “No. You didn’t deserve it, Taylor. She hurt you a lot.”

Taylor tugs her legs up, curling into the fetal position, trapping Lisa’s arm on her stomach, “I guess.”

Lisa just holds her closer, and Taylor feels safer. 

\--

Taylor watches as Emily walks down the stairs to the living room, her new costume looking very good. The girl hurries over, “Look at this thing!” 

Taylor blinks as the gasmask is shoved into her hands. Adjusting how she holds it, she hums softly, “Aiming for three nozzles on it?” She moves it a bit more, whistling softly, “And it still works as a gasmask.”

“I know, right?” Emily takes it back, handing it to Lee to inspect. “I can adjust how many I want to use to shoot, and I just.” Emily grabs her and hops up and down, “Look at my costume!”

Taylor tugs away to inspect it, and she has to nod. The baggy outfit that looks like a toughened sort of onesie has flame patterns in orange and red all over it, but a closer look clearly shows them to be feathers. A closer look at the boots and gloves reveals the same, making it more and more impressive. “Boss sure knows who to hire to get good work.” Since it is _severely_ doubtful that the man does the costuming on his own time. 

Emily grins, “I wanna go out and _do_ something!”

Watching Lee carefully put the mask on Emily, she says, “We could ask Lisa if there are any jobs the boss wants us to do. I mean, why not?”

“We’re too dangerous for smash and grabs,” Lee reminds her.

“Maybe he wants us to harass the Empire, you think of that? Maybe we could, I don't know, figure out where Hookwolf is or-”

“Dogfights,” Bitch interrupts, looking at them from where she’s brushing out her dogs.

“What do you mean?”

“Hookwolf, he does dog fighting. I want to stop them, but can’t. He has a huge ring of them, but I just… I _can’t_ do it alone, and the others keep ignoring when I tell them.”

That doesn’t sound like Lisa, but she can see how Alec wouldn’t, and Brian isn’t here enough to hear Rachel talk about it. It is possible that Lisa has told the boss, the boss keeps vetoing it, and Lisa isn’t willing to risk Rachel’s wrath on that end.

“Why can’t you do it on your own?” she asks, since Rachel does _not_ seem like the kind of person to say she can’t do something. It is much more that Rachel sees something in her way, tears out it’s throat, spits it out, and keeps fucking going. Her dogs are a massive force multiplier, and while she’s only seen the girl taking care of the three she always has with her, Taylor has also seen the girl attack a person who kicked a stray dog. 

Which, to be honest, justified. 

Taylor is still figuring out a proper punishment to animal abusers that won’t hit anyone working in a slaughterhouse. Brockton does have one of those, on the outskirts, and people work there. Makes food _slightly_ cheaper. 

She also doesn't want to hit any immigrants who somehow manage to catch pigeons or seagulls. The less of those pests, the better. Same with rats, even if a rat is a meat she never wants to know she could be eating. Give it to her in a mystery meat and it has nothing toxic or transmittable? Sure. Just… don't tell her. She will pretend it is some sort of weird bird or tiny pig. Whatever.

“I don’t have any way to get the dogs out, since I can’t drive.”

She blinks, glancing to Lee, “And we do have someone who knows how to drive here, right.” She pauses, “You do know how to, right, Lee?”

“Not well.”

“Shit.”

Emily coughs, “I do, though. As long as it isn’t a stick.”

“Good,” Rachel says flatly. “I’ll get the truck for transporting the dogs, and we hit the dog rings.” Rachel stands up, stalking to Emily, “You’re coming with me to drive it.”

“O-okay?”

Rachel doesn’t answer, just grabbing Emily’s gloved hand, and whistling for her dogs as she starts to head out.

“Don’t forget your mask, Bitch!” Taylor calls after them.

“I got it!” Rachel yells at them just before the slamming of the door.

Taylor looks at Lee, then shrugs. “I guess we should get in costume.”

With that, they go to get ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I slept late, but managed to wake up in time to upload. 
> 
> My brain is still bad. Thanks, anxiety and depression.


	8. Chapter 8

Taylor isn’t exactly sure why this fight seems so much … more fun than the previous one, but it just _is_. She finds herself running through the fires around them from Agir, loving the stretch of her limbs, and just spins on the edge of her foot, touching people who seem terrified. The compulsions to keep her and her team safe intertwined with the ones to not fucking abuse animals. The ones she leaves behind as she almost dances past them joining to help save the dogs sentenced to the hell of the fighting ring. 

She whistles sharply, and Lee is suddenly behind her, lifting her up, and she barely notices as he kicks something near them. But she’s up high enough to grab the cable above her, and she yanks it down, bringing a great deal of the makeshift lighting in the warehouse just… drop.

She laughs, loud, excited, and full of joy. The destruction around her fueling the adrenaline and making her rush away as soon as Lee sets her back on the cobbled together stadium stairs the nazis have made. She keeps tagging more people attempting to escape from the chaos around them. She twirls around only when she hits near the edge, and finds herself running along the chairs themselves, her feet light as she jumps and bounces more than runs, trying to stay airborne as long as she can, only the least amount of time she can on the ground. 

It makes her long for a cape to fly behind her, but she knows better. It makes her bitter, but she understands only those who can take being yanked back and choked will wear the things. But the idea of feathers all around her as she runs brings a further joy to her, and her already maniacal grin widens, her pupils dilate all the more, and she must look truly unhinged as she jumps down to the floor, knees bending and dropping almost to the floor as she bleeds the momentum. She takes off almost instantly to the middle of the now mostly destroyed ring.

Her arms spread wide, and she yells, “Is this all? Are none going to come and stop us? Or will the Choir be taking out nazis without reprisals?” When the only response is yells and curses, she yells, “Agir!”

“Eyyyy!” Emily yells back in response, shooting some fire at the walls. 

“Light ‘em up!’

“You got it, Milyaket!” And behind Taylor, more flames go up, lighting her and well.

“You nazis need to learn! The Choir doesn't take animal abuse laying down, and we’ll fuck you up!” She puts her hands to her mouth, “Wekil!”

He teleports next to her, hand on her shoulder. “She’s out along with the dogs,” he informs her softly. “Ready?”

“Let’s go!”

And they’re out, Taylor groaning a bit at the teleport, and leaning against the tire of the large truck for transporting dogs. There’s a groan as next to her as Emily shows up with Lee. Emily curls up, “I don’t wanna do the teleporty thing again.”

Taylor takes her arm, “Ugh, same. Wekil, I don’t know how you can do it, but it feels real bad.”

Emily nods as they stumble to the cab of the truck, Lee steadying them. “I hate it.”

Lee pats both of their backs, climbing in with them, Emily getting behind the wheel. “Can you drive?”

“Uh…” She stares at the street, clearly wobbling, “No.”

Lee sighs, and trades spots with her, Taylor curls up a little, eyes closed. “Then I will.”

“Alright,” Taylor mumbles.

Emily knocks on the back of the truck, “You got it under control, Bitch?”

There’s a _lot_ of dogs barking, but over that, they can hear a yell of, “Yeah! Get fucking going!”

Lee takes off down the street, and Taylor uncurls enough to pull out her phone, and check on navigation to where it is Bitch wants the dogs. Thankfully, she’s pretty sure they can make it through the backstreets for this, so that’s good.

Emily prods her, “I gotta be next to a window, remember?”

Right, right, blasters are good at range. She instantly lets Emily climb over her, and moves so she’s now in the middle. Honestly, it’s nicer in the middle, anyay. Surrounded by people she knows will keep her safe. Comforting. She finds herself leaning against Lee as she explains to him where best to go.

About halfway there, some nazis show up in front of them, but they jump out of the way when it becomes _very_ clear that Lee won’t be slowing down if they’re in the middle of the street. But other than that, they make it easily to what turns out to be a well run kennel. 

Taylor gets out, and helps with unloading the dogs. As they’re all doing that, Lee says, “We need to teach you how to drive, Milyaket.”

She makes a face, but nods, “Yeah. I can see that. Alright.”

“You’ll learn to use a stick first,” Emily says matter-of-factly.

Picking up a smaller dog that shivers in her arms, she says, “No. I know this trick. I will not. I will learn an automatic, since they’re easier. You don’t know how to use a stick.”

Lee gives her an amused look, voice smug as he says, “Knowing how to use a manual will only help you when I teach you how to hotwire a car.”

She gasps, “You’ll do that?”

“If you want.”

“Awesome!” She groans a little, as she walks, “It feels like my arms and legs are noodles. It sucks.”

Emily snorts as she leads a dog with a leash, “You’re the one running and jumping around like a ballerina.”

“I was what now?” She frowns, petting the dog as they walk. What is Emily even talking about?

Rachel is walking in with a large dog, “You were running and jumping around like you were trying to keep your shoes clean.”

“That’s just… how you’re supposed to run? Jumping from leg to leg is best. Faster.”

“Whatever,” Rachel grumbles, and takes the small dog from her, “You’re scaring it. Go take another from the truck.”

She _likes_ that little dog, thanks, but she just nods and heads back. This time, she takes a scared and sad dog missing an ear with scars across the muzzle and sides. Poor thing. Needs to be shown how not everything is terrible, and once a person gets away from the terrible things, all that’s left to do is thrive.

She puts a leash on the dog, and pets its back, urging it out, and it leans against her leg as they walk. She pets it softly and calmingly, leading the poor thing in. She nods when Emily grins at her, mask off, on her way back to get more dogs. She takes the dog to one of the kennels that has a bowl of food and water, slipping off the leash and petting the dog’s head. “It’ll be okay,” she soothes before getting up to do this again.

She’s not sure how many times she goes back and forth, but eventually the truck is empty, and the kennels are full.

Bitch frowns at it all, but nods. “Good. Time to check them over and make them healthy.”

“Do you want us here to do that?” she asks, really wanting to go home, but willing to stay if Rachel needs them.

“No.”

Typically, she’d expect more, like telling them to leave, but honestly, Taylor didn’t ask that. “Alright, we’re heading out. If you want one or more of us to stay, just say it, otherwise, we’re gone.”

“Go.”

Keeping her smile without teeth like Lisa’s told her, she gives a thumbs up, and heads out. She leans against Lee, and whines softly, “Let’s head home. I wanna go to sleep. Eat, too. Eat and sleep and feel better. I’m tired.”

Emily laughs, “Sounds like a plan!”

\--

Taylor is laying with her head on Alec’s stomach as he plays a game, flipping through her phone as she mostly browses PHO. Alec glances at it, “Flame war, huh?”

“Seems like people are angry that The Choir burned down a warehouse, then they stopped being mad when they realized it had been full of nazis. Also that we’d rescued dogs.” 

“Nice.” He holds up a hand, and she gives a high five. “How angry are they?”

“I think they’ve been banning people left and right. They may lock the thread soon, since it appears that yelling how awesome nazis are, or saying that the group that models themselves on the Simurgh are not bad people, is inflammatory or something along those lines. Who’d’a thunk it?”

He snorts, “I’d join you guys, but… eh. Effort.” 

She laughs, scrolling through the thread, “People saying I’m creepy, people saying I’m hot, people accusing the people saying I’m hot of being pedophiles, and other people saying it isn’t pedophilia but another word for pedophiles. Ah, the internet, you never fail to let me down.”

“These are the banned people?”

“Looks like it. I’m not exactly checking other than the little reports on them, but I think I’m just a little ahead of the mods as I read. Mostly since I’m only skimming along. Voidcowboy-”

“Fuckhead,” Alec interjects.

“-isn’t banned at all. All he said was that he hopes the dogs are okay.”

“How’s he so sensible in a thread full of trash?”

“I think it’s because he saw everyone else getting banned, and he didn’t want to join that pile.”

That gets a snort, and Alec runs his hands through her hair, “Oh, I see another pedo there.”

“Yeah, he’s gonna be gone before long.” She hits the next page, then sighs, “Man, locked. Just as I’m on the last page, too. I was hoping to use my unverified cape account to call nazis trash and that people who want to fuck me and are adults, they’re really gross.”

“Maybe another time.”

“Yeah. I would still want to be able to stir shit up, and-” She stops talking as her phone starts to ring. 

The contact label is just… Boss. She sits up, looking around, then stands up. Alec just waves her off when she is about to say something, and she nods, hurrying to the kitchen where Lee is.

Hoping on the chair in there, she answers, “Hello.”

“Milyaket,” comes the smooth tones of the man who’s employing her. The man she’s mostly been working through Lisa with.

“Sir,” she says, unsure what else to respond with. Lee walks over, looking curious, and she mouths who it is she’s talking to. 

He nods sharply, and gestures to the door in question, and she shakes her head as the boss tells her, “I have a … potential recruit for you.”

She sits up straighter, “Who would that be?”

“Before I get into that, I’d like to know if you think you can face what you will need to do to get her.”

A chunk of her wants to insist she can, but she doesn't know _what_ she has to do. “And those things are?”

“There are many things, and you may want … Tattletale to help you with that.” That small pause before mentioning Lisa is odd, but she doesn’t comment on it. “But on the day that you get your newest teammate, should you want her part of the team, she and the Undersiders will not be with you. The plan is to have the teams be seperated in the public’s mind, after all.”

Something about how he says that makes him feel like a gigantic asshole for some reason. It’s the tone, really. She does her best to keep her disdain out of her voice as she says, “And who is this teammate?”

“Why, my dear Milyaket, I want you to free Canary from her transport when she’ll be going to the Birdcage, of course.”

She stares at the wall, head blanking. It is only Lee touching her that has her come back to herself, “How are you so sure that she’ll be sent? Her trial is still ongoing, and has been for quite some time now.”

“Milyaket, you of all people should know that those who remind people of the singing insanity go to the birdcage. Isn’t that what your little walks are for? To keep that from happening?”

Her heart is frozen in her chest, which helps keep her tone cool and collected, “Of course it is. And I’m guessing you say that I can’t just leave someone to the same fate I’m avoiding.”

“You do seem to have some love of justice. Making nazis unable to insult those they hate, saving dogs, destroying those who tormented you. That sort of thing.”

She closes her eyes, one arm holding her phone to her ear, and the other wrapping around herself in a mockery of self comfort. Being called out like this is not what she’s asking for, but she still feels stripped bare. “Yes. That’s very true,” she admits. “I suppose you have a point. Putting it that way, I can't do anything less. But I still don’t know when she will be taken. I can't do much without that information.”

“As I said, work with Tattletale with such things. Your headquarters haven’t moved, so you may as well take advantage. But don’t worry, it likely won’t be for awhile. If it is more than, say, a week or two, I will arrange for something large for the Choir, and something smaller for the Undersiders to do as a way to keep you both apart to the public.”

“That would be nice, sir.”

“Now, for another thing I’d like you to do. You may, of course, refuse, or perhaps bring your team as you do it, but the pay will be split between you and whoever you bring.”

Even if she went in solo, she’d likely split it between the three of them anyway. Lee and Emily will do best if she lets them know she likes them and wants them with her. But she’ll bring them with her if he’s allowing it, of course. “And what would that be, sir?”

“I want your powers to be used to make my men more loyal to me. Feel free to talk to Tattletale about this, since she knows who I am. She, however, will not be allowed on base as you work.”

“Loyalty?”

“I know you will make them with your usual compulsions, but that is just fine. Talk to Tattletale, and she will get in contact with me. Think on this, Milyaket.”

He hangs up on her before she can respond, and she puts the phone on the counter. “Lee?”

He touches her hand softly, “Yes, Taylor?”

“The boss might have a job for us, and we might be getting Canary as a teammate when we free her.”

He hums softly, looking thoughtful. “Never a dull moment in the Choir.”

She barks a laugh, closing her eyes and shaking her head. “I suppose not.” Standing up, she takes a slow breath, “I… I suppose not.” She opens her eyes, “Will you tell Emily? I need to go talk to Lisa.”

“I’ll do that. You go talk to her.”

She smiles at Lee, and heads upstairs. Time to see what Lisa thinks of her talk with their boss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter for this. The plan was to have more as I posted, but I just... haven't been writing. 
> 
> Still, I hope you enjoyed it.


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